dailycamera.com : ACLU lobbying for changes in nudity laws - Pranksters or sex offenders?
In the wake of last year's naked pumpkin run, when a dozen "Naked Pumpkin Runners" were ticketed for indecent exposure on Halloween, public frustration with Colorado's nudity laws came boiling up. Now, the American Civil Liberty's Union is lobbying for changes that would keep streakers off of sex-offender lists and protect nudity as a constitutionally sheltered freedom of expression.
Public nudity in Boulder isn't exactly uncommon: Last year, more than 60 cyclists biked bare to protest oil-burning cars; a CU student ran naked across campus while tripping on acid, and another, also tripping, jumped naked out of a car and rolled around in the street; a 55-year-old man took several nude jogs along Folsom Street; and a teenager streaked the Boulder-Fairview football game.
But how the nude offenders are ticketed by police -- if they are ticketed at all -- can vary widely, resulting in either a relatively minor offense or life-changing registration as a sex offender.
ohmygov.com : Streaker or Sex Offender? Laws Don't Always Differentiate.
Take the case of Boulder's annual "Naked Pumpkin Run," a bizarre if harmless Halloween antic, where last year a dozen participants were cited for indecent exposure. Colordado's Daily Camera reports that under state law, this is a class 1 misdemeanor and requires registering as a sex offender, whereas the charge of public indecency is a class 1 petty offense, on a par with littering or stealing a book from a library. The public indecency charge doesn't carry sex offender status.
