04/07/2003

Associated Press

ISSAQUAH, Wash. - None of Allan Arnold's neighbors batted an eye when he took out his garbage one recent sunny morning, wearing nothing but gold-rimmed glasses and his shoes.

He lives in Forestia, a remote, gated nudist park in this east Seattle suburb, where no one sees anyone's birthday suit by accident.

"We do our best not to get in people's faces," Sharon Anderson, Arnold's wife and a longtime resident of Forestia, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for a story Monday.

Members of the Body Freedom Cooperative have a different take on the subject.

They feel nudists should be able to do their thing in public places and plan to flout anti-nudity rules in a push for clothing-optional beaches at local parks.

"We're pushing the envelope in what I think is a good way," said Mark Storey, a founding member of Body Freedom.

So far, the group has staged one public prank. Storey and two others went skinny-dipping at Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island, site of the King County park system headquarters, to signal their "commitment to bringing clothing-free opportunities on public lands closer to the people of the cities." More stunts are expected. There's talk of a "mass nude photo shoot" at the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle this spring and random in-the-buff neighborhood clean-ups.

"I'm really looking forward to that," said Shirley Gauthier of Springfield, Ore., another Body Freedom founder. "It's hard to complain about someone cleaning up graffiti."

Such tactics make Anderson and other traditional nudists squeamish.

They worry that promoting nude beaches with public nudity may backfire.

"It would not be my choice," said Anderson, who was fully clothed as she gave a tour of Forestia's playground, picnic area and pools. "I don't like any sort of views foisted on unknowing people, and nudism is just one."

Nancy Trautenberg, president of the Northwest Nudists Association and co-owner of a Bellevue nudist club called Xena's Sanctuary, agrees.

"We like to have our nudist freedom, but we don't like to push it on anybody," she said.

Washington state has at least seven nudist clubs, four with their own acreage: Forestia, Lake Bronson in Sultan, Lake Associates near Mount Vernon and Kaniksu Ranch near Spokane.

There are no public nude beaches in Washington, as there are in Oregon and British Columbia. And state lawmakers blocked a recent proposal to designate Clayton Beach south of Bellingham as a nude beach.

Body Freedom members say a majority of Americans do not oppose public nudity. They cite a recent Roper poll, commissioned by The Naturist Education Foundation, which found that 80 percent of Americans support creation of designated, clothing-optional beaches.

Body Freedom activists feel the discreet private clubs suggest non-sexual nudity is shameful.

"It's very creepy," said group co-founder Daniel Johnson. "I just find it really strange that people want to keep it secret."

Actually, Forestia isn't much of a secret. Hundreds of visitors show up for the summertime Bare Buns Fun Run and annual Nudestock music festival.

Traditional nudists aren't trying to hide, Anderson said. They just recognize that some people are offended by nudity and have the right not to be forced to view someone's bare backside.

And while the First Amendment protects political expression, it doesn't clear Body Freedom activists to protest in the buff.

"Prohibiting all public nudity, for whatever reason, has been held constitutional" by the U.S. Supreme Court, said David Skover, who teaches constitutional law at Seattle University.