Boston College Law Review Volume 61 Issue 9 Electronic Supplement Article 37 6-9-2020 Free the Nipple–Fort Collins and the Enduring Fight for Gender Equality Maria Massimo Boston College Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr Part of the Courts Commons, Fourteenth Amendment Commons, and the Law and Gender Commons Recommended Citation Maria Massimo, Free the Nipple–Fort Collins and the Enduring Fight for Gender Equality, 61 B.C.L. Rev. E.Supp. II.-430 (2020), https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr/vol61/iss9/37 This Comments is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. FREE THE NIPPLE–FORT COLLINS AND THE ENDURING FIGHT FOR GENDER EQUALITY Abstract: On February 15, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Free the Nipple–Fort Collins v. City of Fort Collins held that a public nudity ordinance that banned the exposure of female breasts violated the Equal Protection Clause. In doing so, the court split from the Fourth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits and established that ordinances that restrict women, but not men, from being topless in public are unconstitutional. This Comment argues that the Tenth Circuit was correct in holding that the prohibition on public exposure of female breasts violated the Equal Protection Clause, as the ban did not sub- stantially serve any important governmental interest.