EDITORIAL:Making a case for public nudity is silly

It seems perfectly ridiculous that Huntington Beach City Council members have to debate the merits of a public nudity law. But they were put in that position after a former resident who considers himself a “naturist” reportedly strolled around nude downtown. That, not surprisingly, sparked complaints to the police department who arrested him.

Police asked prosecutors several times to charge him, but the district attorney declined all but one case because Huntington Beach didn’t have a law on the books prohibiting public displays of nudity. In the one case, prosecutors apparently felt they had enough to charge him. Without a law banning public nudity, the only way prosecutors could go after him is if authorities felt he exposed himself in — how should we say this? — too provocative a manner.

Whether Michael Angelo Ferreira is guilty is up to a court of law to decide.

But in the court of common sense it’s easy to convict someone who saunters around in a public place in the buff.

Naturists implored City Council members this week to turn down Police Chief Kenneth Small’s request for a public nudity ban. They argued that naturists are not exhibitionists.

“Most naturists seek not to offend people,” Tony Wilkinson said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

While that might be true it’s silly to argue that strolling around nude at the local grocery store or in the neighborhood park isn’t bound to offend most people.

Council members deserve some praise for tweaking the ordinance to not put an age limit on breastfeeding or to ban any “device, costume or covering” that simulates breasts or genitalia. They would swerve too far into constitutionally iffy territory there and it’s better to take care of the issue at hand right now.

The City Council rightfully approved a first draft of the public nudity ban. It’s a shame they were ever put in this embarrassing position in the first place.