Nude at home, not guilty in Virginia
Some of you may have heard or read about the story of Erick Williamson, the Virginia man who was charged and convicted after a complaint was made that he was nude at home, and visible from the street. The case was interesting because the arguments seemed to revolve around whether the man was deliberately exhibiting himself, or whether the complainant was being particularly sensitive.
Well, the courts have reached a sensible conclusion, and acquitted Erick on appeal (and taking only 20 minutes to make the decision!!).
You can read a bit more about the original case on this link
And you can read the latest on this link
Keep in mind this is a US case – to our understanding, in Australia you are more than welcome to be nude in your house and even your back yard. But you can’t be visible to the street (ie to the public).
We’d like to think that Australian nudists take a common sense approach to these situations – like smoking and religion, just coz you like being nude does not automatically mean everyone else does. Be aware of your neighbours and do everything you can to be considerate. It’s one thing to be accidentally discovered sunning yourself in your back yard when a neighbour pokes their head over the fence, and another matter entirely when you position yourself directly in line of site of their upstairs windows!!
One of our readers reported living next door to a family of 6, with the 4 daughters all being under 14, and their 2-story house overlooking his backyard in the deal – clearly it might be legal to be nude in the backyard, but would it be a good idea?? Everyone probably knows the answer to that one…
Common sense people, we’re nudists, not show-ponies – be considerate of those around us, and you’ll at least be in a defensible position!!
