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By Jesse Monteagudo As the debut of Showtime's Queer As Folk approaches, more columnists are weighing in.
In Interpretations of Life, their 1970 study of contemporary
literature, Will and Ariel Durant gave us a good reason to accept our
mortality: "Who would want to live forever, and go through an endless series
of American presidential campaigns?"
To many of us, our eventual demise looked less forbidding after enduring a few weeks of our current post-presidential election mess. Even worse than this nightmare of butterfly ballots, dimpled chads and endless litigation is the thought that, for the next four years, the United States will be governed by either George W. Bush or Al Gore. Decision 2000's impact on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people has already been discussed, ad infinitum. Here I will discuss how the recent elections will affect the naturist movement. If public nudity and clothing-optional beaches were a federal issue, this would be an easy task. Though the Republican Party retained control of the Congress, and might regain the presidency, its majorities are so tenuous that I doubt it will be able to pass legislation dear to the hearts of religious conservatives. However, outside of federal lands, public nudity and clothing-optional beaches are regulated by the states. Therefore, we must look at the election results in the various states to determine how they will affect the naturist movement within those states.
The recent elections returned large GOP majorities to the Florida Legislature. The 2001-2002 State Senate will have 25 Republicans and 15 Democrats, and the State House of Representatives will have 77 Republicans and 43 Democrats. Most of this new GOP majority consists of social conservatives who were elected to the Legislature because of term limits. The Christian Coalition and other religious right groups claim credit for their victories, and hope to use their clout to push their agenda in the upcoming legislative session. High on their agenda is legislation that would ban public nudity. Florida's naturist activists view our state's political future with trepidation. Ronald Burich, President of Florida Naturist Association/South Florida Free Beaches (FNA/SFFB), worries about the impact of Decision 2000 on Florida's free beaches: "Conservatives made significant gains and consolidated much of their political base with the November elections. More conservative proposals will become public policy. For naturist organizations across the country, the future will become even more litigious. Naturist organizations will soon require greater public support. Based on recent 5-4 rulings, if the Supreme Court goes conservative, it could mean the death blow for naturist living and for other civil liberties." "Because Florida State Legislators are subject to term limits, there are now seventy-three, newly elected legislators in the Florida House and Senate. We have a formidable task in getting our message to all new legislators and their aides, and finding out who our friends are. Rep. Randy Ball [a long-time foe of the naturist movement] is now in a leadership role in the House, and with a Republican majority we have a very dangerous situation. It will be easier than ever for an anti-nudity bill to get introduced. We're also keeping an eye on the Republican attempt to expand the Supreme Court for the purpose of getting the current governor to appoint two more judges. " Shirley Mason, Executive Director of B.E.A.C.H.E.S. - Beach Education Advocates for Culture, Health, Environment and Safety - is also concerned about the future: "After some nine years of working with, getting to know, and building a positive relationship with South Florida elected officials, we still have a good base of friendly state legislators and Miami-Dade County Commissioners. They know us, understand naturist issues, and realize that passing laws to make mere nudity a criminal offense is counter productive for our citizens and tourist economy. We have about a dozen new local officials to meet with personally and educate on our issues." "The monumental task is educating approximately 70 new state legislators throughout Florida. That is our biggest concern because of the expense it will take our volunteer lobbyists and time is not on our side. Bills are already being drafted and early committee meetings have begun. Many of these new legislators have far right-wing leanings and we know the Florida Christian Coalition has nude recreation on its radar screen, and its elimination in its stated sights. From their fund-raising letters, newsletters, and Candidate Surveys, this is one of their goals." "I believe our two year reprieve from anti-nudity bills out of Tallahassee is about to end and the Miami-Dade Commission has at least one self-avowed commissioner [Joe Martinez] who has stated that he would support a local anti-nudity ordinance. It 's time for naturists to be on high alert and ready to fight these threats with their physical presence at commission meetings and visiting and writing their elected county and state officials early as a preemptive strike and preventative actions."
"I perceive the outcome of the 2000 US national elections to be beneficial or at least neutral in its effect on the naturist movement in America. This is wildly speculative, even more speculative than the result of the undecided Presidential election." "My reasoning is that by all measures (Senate, House, and President) the power of two major parties have converged to a standstill at the national level. This should reduce the activism of the Federal government in making social policies that go against the States. Neutralization at the national level should allow so-called morality (nudity, freedom of expression, domestic partnerships, etc.) to be decided more by community standards, which means more regional diversity." "Traditionally that would seem bad, because the strongest bastions of conservative racism and other forms of bigotry have hidden behind States' Rights. But I think the main fight for the naturist movement in America is for the hearts and minds of the undecided, the middle-of-the-roaders, the Americans who might be swayed that public nudity in designated areas is no sin, or at least is not worth objecting to. “What I am saying is that left to local devices, some states could move to a more liberal posture on designated areas for social nudity, and other states would be free to regulate against public nudity. The potential involvements in the Federal government in this process would be the National Parks and the Supreme Court." Busey could point out to a new survey, reported in "haulover-digest", where 80% of the respondents "believe that people who enjoy nude sunbathing should be able to do so without interference from officials as long as they do so at a beach that is accepted for that purpose". (17% disagreed.) Unfortunately, Florida legislators are more likely to listen to Christian Coalition lobbyists than to a survey in a naturist magazine. In this political climate, our Sunshine State would most likely be one of the states that "would be free to regulate against public nudity." In any case, our work is cut out for us. Those of us who value our free beaches must support those groups that fight for our rights. Haulover Beach, Apollo Beach and other clothing-optional exist because of a handful of men and women who dedicated their lives to their cause. It is time that we join them, if only to preserve the rights that we all-too often take for granted.
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On the other hand, Philip Busey, the editor of the on-line magazine
haulover-digest, does not share his colleagues' pessimism:
Jesse Monteagudo, Florida's foremost GLBT scholar, is featured in
James T. Sears' forthcoming history of the gay South:
Rebels, Rubyfruit and Rhinestones to be published in May
by Rutger's University Press.
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