Venice Wants to Allow Topless Bathing at the Beach

The Venice neighborhood council approved a motion that would ask the LA City Council to let ladies be topless at the beach. The LA Times reports that, the neighborhood organization voted in favor of the motion to show that it "supports women being afforded the same rights as men to sunbathe topless." The agenda for the meeting where the vote was held pointed out that Venice is supposed to be like Venice, Italy, and in Europe, people are totally cool with topless bathing. Plus, it added, isn't freaky Venice supposed to be "a safe haven for liberal views and free expression"?

The agenda also claims that Venice used to allow topless bathing—the neighborhood council's President Emeritus says she recalls "fully clothed tourists standing crowds deep along the grass photographing the topless sun bathers," Yo! Venice writes. (This is why we can't have nice things, people.)

One big hurdle to Venice's dream of top-free tanning is that the current law forbids topless and nude sunbathing. The ball's in the LA City Council's court, which can decide to do something about the neighborhood organization's recommendation or ignore it.
· Venice Beach neighborhood council seeks topless sunbathing for women [LAT]
· Topless Sunbathing Could Return to Venice Beach [Yo!Venice]