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New Hampshire's highest court hears topless beachgoers' case

Posted February 01, 2018 6:00 am

By MICHAEL CASEY

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A lawyer for three women arrested for going topless on a New Hampshire beach has told the state's highest court the municipal law they're accused of violating is discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Heidi Lilley, Kia Sinclair and Ginger Pierro are part of the Free the Nipple campaign. They were arrested in 2016 after taking off their tops at a beach in Laconia and refusing to put them on when beachgoers complained.

The women appealed to the state Supreme Court after a lower court refused to dismiss the case. Oral arguments were heard Thursday.

The women say there's no state law forbidding female toplessness and call the case gender-based discrimination because men don't have to cover their nipples. Supporters of the municipal law argue it helps prevent public disturbances stemming from toplessness.

FILE - In this June 2, 2016 file photo Heidi Lilley speaks about her arrest the previous week for going topless at Weirs Beach in Laconia, N.H. The Supreme Court in New Hampshire will hear arguments Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018 in the case of three women who are challenging a city ordinance that bans them from going topless. The case pertains to Lilley and two other women who were ticketed over the 2016 Memorial Day weekend at Weirs Beach. (Geoff Forester/Concord Monitor via AP) The Associated Press

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