A Florida woman who bared her breasts during a state forest campout has won in a state appeals court.
Kayla Sosnow told a Tuesday news conference going topless meant rejecting "criminalization" of women's breasts and bodies. "Who decided that women's breasts are more obscene than men's?" she asked.
Florida's 8th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out her conviction for disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace Sept. 17. The court ruled that only the arresting officer had objected to her partial nudity, with no proof any member of the public was disturbed when she took her short off at the 1996 campout in Ocala National Forest.
The event was promoted by a group promoting ecologically-sound living. Sosnow was arrested on the basis of an anonymous call to police reporting her walking around topless in the heat.
The appeals court ruled that hearsay evidence which should not have been allowed as trial evidence, says Fox News.
Florida has no law on the state books requiring women to cover their breasts, though numerous cities and counties have one. Where none exist, police tend to rely on disorderly conduct codes. And other recent state court rulings have said disorderly conduct has to disturb someone other than law enforcement officials.
