'Free The Nipple' Leader Headed To Court Over Topless Sunbathing Ticket
LACONIA, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire woman says she is going to trial instead of paying a $25 ticket for sunbathing topless.
54-year-old Heidi Lilley says she wants to prove the Gilford ordinance is unconstitutional and that women should be allowed to expose their upper bodies.
Lilley and 28-year-old Barbara MacKinnon were ticketed on Sept. 6 for their lack of shirts. They were arraigned in Laconia's district court Tuesday. Their trial is scheduled for December 15.
An attorney says the women pleaded not guilty and that he plans to file a motion to dismiss the case on equal protection grounds. He says the law essentially criminalizes being a woman.
Lilley has become a local leader of a national movement called Free the Nipple, which seeks to "stand against female oppression and censorship."
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