The Venice Beach Boardwalk is always a peculiar place, but this Sunday it's about to be even more of a head-turning scene during the 10th annual Go Topless Day.
The yearly protest, which is traditionally tied to Women's Equality Day, happens to fall exactly on the date this year; August 26 marks the day in 1920 that women were granted the constitutional right to vote.
Participants are reminded to make sure to wear some form of nipple covers, as the semi-nude march has to comply with local laws. In 2015, the Venice Neighborhood Council voted overwhelmingly to support topless sunbathing. But the Los Angeles municipal code at both the city and county levels prohibits exposing "any portion of the breast at or below the upper edge of the areola thereof of any such female person."
Expect to see all sorts of colorful and creative means to skirt around the law, as we spotted at last year's demonstration.
Photograph: Gil Riego Jr.
The nationwide Go Topless Day event was started in response to a 2005 wrongful arrest over toplessness in New York City. Though the demonstration's ties to the Raëlian movement, an extraterrestrial-centric religion, may raise a few eyebrows, its participants seek only to argue that the distinction between male and female nudity is arbitrary and antiquated.
Go Topless Day 2017 takes place on August 26 at 1pm on the corner of Navy Street and Ocean Front Walk in Venice.
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