[Vision2020] And Now for Some . . . Gender Equality

[Tom Hansen]

A topless march is scheduled for tomorrow (April 30, 2010) in Farmington,
Maine (just outside of the University of Maine) promoting gender equality.

Courtesy of the Daily Bulldog (Franklin County, Maine) at:

http://www.dailybulldog.com/db/?p=4517

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Topless woman downtown causes a stir; her march is coming

FARMINGTON - A topless woman standing on the corner of Main and Broadway
Saturday morning brought several complaints to the Franklin County
dispatch center and more to town and state officials.

Farmington Police Department Officers Bill Tanner and Kim Bates responded
to the first complaint at 11:22 a.m. On arrival they found Andrea
Simoneau, a University of Maine at Farmington history major, topless and
handing out flyers advertising an upcoming topless march from 1 to 2 p.m.
on April 30 at Meetinghouse Park on Main Street. According to Tanner’s
report, several pedestrians stopped and looked at the woman, with many
taking flyers from her.

“A lot of people were supportive,” Simoneau said. “And some weren’t.” She
credits Officers Tanner and Bates with helping those who weren’t so
supportive in clarifying that it’s legal in Maine for women to go bare
chested in public.

“The Farmington police were my greatest ally, backing me up a couple  of
times,” she said.

The officers did advise  Simoneau that if rubber necking causes an
accident because of the unusual sight, she may be held accountable.

“I would put my shirt back on if I thought someone might get hurt. I don’t
want anyone to get hurt,” she said.

In Portland on April 3, a topless march of between 20 to 30 people was
held to protest society’s gender bias that holds men can take their shirts
off in public but women can’t. Simoneau of Brooks, Maine, said she
participated in that march and was inspired by it to organize a march in
Farmington. She plans to advertise her April 30 march again on Saturday
beginning at 11 a.m.

She believes her handing out flyers and marching topless will help break
the social taboo that women have to keep their shirts on in public and men
don’t. It’s an important message for all those who oppose it, she said,
”it’s doing something good for them and for future generations.”

After an hour and half of handing out flyers on Saturday, Simoneau left,
but the incident continues to be the talk of the town. Selectmen have
received complaints and calls to action, according to Town Manager Richard
Davis, who fielded one complaint first thing this morning.

“No laws were broken,” Davis said. “There’s nothing selectmen can do; it
shouldn’t be a matter for them.” Instead he advises people to call their
local state legislator if they want to get a law on the books prohibiting
topless women in public places.

Lots of people have taken that advice, because State Rep. Lance Harvell,
R-Farmington, said as of Sunday night, he’d fielded 30 calls so far from
people complaining of a topless woman on Main Street.

Davis said a march held at Meetinghouse Park wouldn’t need a permit
approved by selectmen, as some events require, because the event would not
be using any facilities and would not be occurring over a sustained period
of time. Freedom of assembly in a public place is a guarantee of the U.S.
Constitution, he noted.

“Some of those opposed said they had a moral objection to it, after they
were told no law had been broken,” Simoneau said. In the end she hopes her
political activism will help those who have a moral issue with it to ask
themselves why and give more women who want to take their shirts off, the
freedom to do so without objection.

She believes, so far, she has 15 people signed up to march with her on
April 30.

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Photo . . .

Andrea Simoneau "advertising" Friday's march.

http://bdnimages.sprintout.com/uploads/large/1271344174_6348.jpg

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown