Post by Logan on Mar 10, 2016 22:28:38 GMT -6
CONCORD -- The “nipple bill” that would have prohibited women from sun-bathing topless on state beaches was killed quickly by the House Wednesday.
The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee had voted last week, 18-0, to kill the bill, with several members saying passing the bill would guarantee the law would be challenged in federal court because it violated equal protection rights under the Constitution.
Some on the committee said the place to enact restrictions is at the local level, not statewide, and others noted that if a women had committed a second offense under the proposal she would have had to register as a sex offender and could have spent up to seven years in jail.
The bill resulted from several “Free the Nipple” protests last summer at Hampton Beach and then at a Laconia beach and finally at a Gilford beach, where two women were arrested.
See more at: www.unionleader.com/Nipple-bill-killed-by-New-Hampshire-House
The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee had voted last week, 18-0, to kill the bill, with several members saying passing the bill would guarantee the law would be challenged in federal court because it violated equal protection rights under the Constitution.
Some on the committee said the place to enact restrictions is at the local level, not statewide, and others noted that if a women had committed a second offense under the proposal she would have had to register as a sex offender and could have spent up to seven years in jail.
The bill resulted from several “Free the Nipple” protests last summer at Hampton Beach and then at a Laconia beach and finally at a Gilford beach, where two women were arrested.
See more at: www.unionleader.com/Nipple-bill-killed-by-New-Hampshire-House