Arrest for Nudity at NYC Gay Beach Raises Questions of Police Targeting, Racial and Income Inequality

A New York man was arrested and taken away in handcuffs at a beach known for gay sunbathers on July 4th. Although police charged him with public nudity, the man claims his flash of skin happened briefly when he dropped his towel. The incident raised concerns that LGBT beachgoers might be targeted at the less affluent and ethnic Riis, as well as a double standard that exists with the more upscale and whiter gay beach communities on Fire Island.

A section of Jacob Riis Park on the Rockaway Peninsula has long been a haven for New York's gay beachgoers. It's also been a place that has embodied European beach practices - sporadic nudity and topless sunbathing.

Part of the beach's draw is that unlike city beaches, Riis Park is part of the National Park Service, which has laxer rules. As the Daily Dot notes, unlike its city counterparts, at Riis alcohol is sold on the boardwalk and nudity isn't uncommon. In fact, many LGBT beachgoers at Riis assume that it's legal to nude sunbathe.

Those assumptions proved to be false over the holiday weekend when gay photographer Krys Fox of Brooklyn found himself the target of what many believe is a park service crackdown targeting gays.

Fox told the Daily Dot that he was at Riis Park's gay beach on Monday working on a photography project when the shorts he was wearing got sandy in the ocean waves. According to Fox, as his shorts were drying in the sun, he wore a towel around his waist. Fox claims that while shooting his photos, his towel fell to ground. Before he could re-tie it around his waist, police swarmed in and he was tackled to the ground.

Fox's run-in was detailed on social media by beachgoer Jax Jackson, who posted his account of the events on Monday evening on his Facebook page.

"What I saw was that suddenly there were 11 cops, 3 or more undercover, walking toward an area near the abandoned building fence," Jackson wrote. "A naked person was tackled to the ground face first by a group of five cops and was screaming "help me" while being dragged off the beach naked."

Jackson noted that "a cop who stayed after warned everyone present to not go bottomless and asked the arrested person's friends to come to the precinct, saying if they were compliant, it would go well for their friend."

Although Jackson's account of the event is largely consistent with Fox's, Sgt David Somma, Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Park Police who patrol Riis Park, have a different story.

Somma told Gothamist that Fox was "standing there fully nude taking pictures of his friend-officers observed him for a minute or two standing there."

Somma claims that Fox defied officers who asked him to cover up numerous times. He also alleges that Fox refused to show officers his ID and became "combative, making a nuisance of himself, drawing attention to himself. So he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct."

Somma told the Dot that the official line on nudity at Riis is women are allowed to go topless (as they are anywhere in New York State), but no one is allowed to go bottomless.

Although Somma disputes claims of a crackdown on nude sunbathing in gay areas of the National Park Beach, roughly 50 miles east of Riis Park at the considerably more upscale gay enclaves Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines, similar concerns arose in May when signs appeared saying "clothing required" in an area between the two communities known for nude sunbathing.

However, unlike Riis, beachgoers (who are largely Latino) who may be concerned following Fox's run-in with the law on Monday, nude sunbathers at Fire Island's upmarket and mostly white gay beaches won't have to worry.

According to a report on EDGE in May, following the appearance of the signs on the Fire Island beaches, John J Stewart, Chief Ranger of the Fire Island National Seashore who patrol the areas allayed worries.

"Although nudity on the beaches of Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines is in violation of the New York State law, U.S. Park Rangers will only educate and enforce this policy on federal property," Stewart stated. "They will not enforce it in front of any of the communities." ��

There have been no reported arrests for public nudity this season in the gay areas on Fire Island.

The Daily Dot noted that Facebook users were also quick to point out Riis gay beach historically draws working-class, black, and Latino populations, as well.

"I've often joked that it's the socioeconomic group that can't afford Fire Island," one Facebook user wrote on the group Gay Riis Beach. "It's historic, we need to fight for it, keep our beach gay. These arrests are homophobic, there's no doubt there."

Those sentiments were echoed Tuesday night when openly gay New York State Senator Brad Holmanissued a statement blasting Fox's arrest.

"Jacob Riis Park has been a safe and peaceful haven for LGBT beachgoers for decades," Hoylman said. "I find any harassment of beachgoers at Jacob Riis and the overwhelming display of force demonstrated by the United States Park Police yesterday to be utterly repugnant. It also seems to be an enormous diversion of resources. I'd hazard a guess that our police have more pressing concerns in this day and age than arresting a nude sunbather at a gay beach."