News Coverage

May 24, 2019 The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast: The Male Nipple Is Free. The Female Nipple, Not So Much.

“If you think Fort Collins is highly educated and progressive, you are sorely mistaken. Last night’s comments made it clear that not only are we a conservative city to the point of nearly puritanical philosophy, but it was downright disgusting on how many people feel that women are responsible for other people’s arousal AND behavior during arousal.”
— Naked Fort Collins
“When I ask people whether or not it seems fair to them that women who might want to suntan freely on a beach should be fined or jailed, the majority usually can see my point. But when we talk about having that right in the abstract, many are dead-set against it. We see this happening in Fort Collins.”
— Lina Esco via Time.com

July 26, 2017  Why Fort Collins is Still Fighting

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March 22nd, 2017 Fort Collins Pursues Appeal

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February 22nd, 2017 Judge Grants Preliminary Injunction 

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  • Lina Esco, the founder of Free the Nipple, wrote a piece in TIME Ideas about our efforts. She even used a quote from Ray Martinez saying the he, "Didn't want to see Fort Collins turned into a strip club."

Read the full article here

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May 31st, 2016 Complaint and Impending Lawsuit Filed

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October 20th, 2016 Judge Dismisses Motion to Dismiss

“If Fort Collins is smart, they will change their statute right now. Or we can litigate for a year and they will lose, and then they will then pay me an exorbitant attorney’s fee — and they will be paying their outside lawyers representing them in this case their exorbitant attorneys’ fees. The only people that benefit from prolonging this are the attorneys.”
— David Lane, Attorney for Free The Nipple
“Jackson’s ruling is courageous and correct. As Free the Nipple amply demonstrates, breast-exposure laws like Fort Collins’ are obviously rooted in archaic sex stereotypes about women and sexuality, resting on the presumption that exposed female nipples are titillating and arousing, while exposed male nipples are unerotic and therefore acceptable. This distinction views women’s breasts as little more than objects of sexual desire and gratification—and, in effect, punishes women for having breasts, which might arouse others, by imprisoning them if they dare expose their nipples. That form of “sex-based inequality” is anathema to the Equal Protection Clause. Jackson should follow the unimpeachable logic of his Thursday order and strike down the entire ordinance.”
— Mark Joseph Stern, Slate