Federal Ruling Makes it Legal For Women to Go Topless in 6 States

Go Topless Day Parade: NYC

Equality means freedom for all and thanks to a federal court ruling, both men and women can feel free to take their tops off in public in six states, including: Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Wyoming, and Oklahoma.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a topless ban by Fort Collins, Colorado after two women sued the city for their right to go topless in public. Because the city decided not to fight the decision, the ruling essentially makes it legal for any woman in those six states to go topless wherever they want.

The lawsuit against the city was filed by Brit Hoahland and Samantha Six, who are part of the #FreetheNipple movement, which has found strong support on social media - especially on Instagram where the social media company regularly takes down posts that include nudity. Hoagland told KGUN-TV that everyone deserved to be comfortable on a hot day, both men and women.

"Everybody should be able to be comfortable on a hot day and if that means taking their shirt of so be it," Hoagland said. "No matter how you look, you should have the same freedom at the person next to you. And it’s also about equality. Addressing small parts of inequality can make a big difference in how people are treated on a day to day basis, and I thought free the nipple was just one small step closer to how it should be."

“Any law that says, ‘Women are prohibited from,’ is unconstitutional and really just intolerable in a society that should treat women as equal to men,” said their attorney, Andy McNulty. "They had been advocating for a while, trying to get the Fort Collins City Council to get rid of a female topless ban in Fort Collins. They’d been unsuccessful, and they wanted to see if we would be willing to represent them in a legal challenge to that ordinance."

Photo: Getty Images


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