Drive-Thru In The Buff!

[Arsonist]

Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/accused+making+naked+trips+Hortons+challenge+nudity+laws/5048171/story.html

Man accused of making naked trips to Tim Hortons, A&W to challenge nudity laws
 
 
BY DOUGLAS QUAN, POSTMEDIA NEWS

JULY 4, 2011
 
 
Lawyers for an Ontario man fighting several public-nudity charges — including one for allegedly going through a burger-joint drive-thru in the buff — are expected to argue Tuesday in court that Canada's nudity laws are too broad and unconstitutional.

Brian Coldin, the owner of a clothing-optional resort in Bracebridge, Ont., is on trial on several charges stemming from incidents that occurred in 2008 and 2009, including driving through an A&W and Tim Hortons without any clothes and walking in a park and on a road wearing only his sandals.

Nader Hasan, one of Coldin's lawyers, said Monday in an interview that existing laws punish people for "innocent" acts of nudity, such as sunbathing in a backyard or changing clothes at a swimming pool.

"These laws violate freedom of expression. If you're going to limit someone's rights, you have to do it in a way that's narrowly tailored," he said. "These criminal laws are far too broad. They criminalize all kinds of harmless conduct, all kinds of innocent nudity."

While exposure to nudity may cause embarrassment or discomfort, there is no evidence that it causes any enduring, psychiatric harm, Hasan said. He said the laws should be narrowed to apply only in those instances where it can be shown that actual harm was caused.

Lawyers working in the constitutional law branch of the Ontario ministry of the attorney general declined to comment Monday through a spokesman.

But in a court filing, provincial lawyers Robert Charney and Zachary Green say the constitutional challenge should be dismissed.

"The defendant is free to practice naturism in private, on his own property or at a naturist resort," the lawyers write. "However, he is not free to be nude without lawful excuse in circumstances where members of the public have not been forewarned about his nudity, have not consented to see him nude, and must suffer a loss of their liberty to go lawfully about their business in order to avoid him."

The criminal trial, which got underway last fall, has previously heard testimony from an A&W employee, who broke down on the stand while describing how Coldin and two others drove up to the pickup window completely nude.

The worker testified that Coldin and the driver of the vehicle both pretended to reach for their wallets causing their genitals to sway back and forth.

A Tim Hortons employee testified seeing Coldin's genitals when she leaned out the window to give him change. It was her first day on the job.

In the incident in the park, Coldin was described as "strutting" across a bridge by a witness. Since that encounter, she is "apprehensive every time" she walks in the area, the court heard.

Lawyers for Coldin are expected to cite a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in 2005 that legalized commercial sex clubs — or swingers clubs — that engage in partner-swapping and orgies.

The court ruled that in order for acts to be considered "indecent," they have to result in harm that "can be objectively shown beyond a reasonable doubt to interfere with the proper functioning of society."

In a column published earlier this year, another one of Coldin's lawyers, Clayton Ruby, described his client as a naturist who "believes that being nude in nature fosters greater respect for self, for others, and for the environment.

"He believes that modern society does not respect individuals as they are, but rather imposes impossible-to-reach ideals, which causes us to be offended by our own image."


Basically this man is fighting to make the line between natural nudity and sexual nudity clear. The laws up here, and most likely everywhere, are very vague when it comes to public nudity.

I hope that this attention doesn't make the laws more strict. The mentality is right, but the conclusion could be the complete opposite of what he was originally going for.

[saskguy_78]

Not really sure what to think of this.  I understand both sides of it.  But isn't there more important things to 'fight' about? lol