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In not one of those reports was a person arrested or cited for wearing a thong or a g-string type bathing suit bottom." "The city produced 104 redacted citations and reports. "The city was asked to turn over copies of all public nudity citations and arrest reports issued by the San Diego Police Department over the last five years," Walters’s attorney Morris wrote in the appeal. The problem, says Walters’s attorney Chris Morris and gay-rights groups, is that the same standard was absent at public beaches and during other events known to draw scantily clad attendees such as Over The Line, Mardi Gras parades, and Comic-Con. That was our goal that day, not just with Mr. Bottom line is I didn't care how, if you could cover yourself, that was my goal. I saw people put on - wrap T-shirts around their waists, put on a pair of shorts, put on pants, wrap a sweatshirt around their waist. ".He could have - I mean I'll just give you examples of what other people did, because I probably talked to 12 or 15 people that same day that were in various forms of disclothing or whatever. The officer said he offered Walters an alternative to jail. "The fact that I could see the side of his buttocks and more of his buttocks is what caused me to contact him," testified Nieslit. In the months leading up to the parade, Nieslit had met with Gay Pride event organizers to discuss his intent of cracking down on bare buttocks at the annual LGBTQ parade, a more strict interpretation than his predecessor had taken.ĭuring a 2012 deposition following the lawsuit, Lt. David Nieslit, the officer in charge for special events for San Diego's police force.ĭuring testimony, Nieslit, who was named head of special events for the police department in 2011, will respond to statements he made to event organizers regarding increased enforcement at Gay Pride. On March 11, judges will hear testimony from Walters as well as Lt. Late last year the appellate court granted their wish. Since the dismissal gay rights groups have come forward with claims that the case raises serious questions about whether police enforce nudity laws, or any laws for that matter, differently for LGBTQ members. In March 2012, Walters sued the City of San Diego and the lieutenant in charge. The officers arrested him and took him to jail where he spent the night in his kilt. Officers threatened to arrest him if he didn't put pants on or tie a T-shirt around his waist. Officers approached Walters inside a beer garden at the 2011 parade to inform him that his 12-inch-long and 8-inch-wide homemade leather kilt, which covered a thong, violated the city's public nudity policy. Do San Diego police officers interpret public nudity laws differently for a gay man at a Gay Pride event than, say, a woman in a g-string at the beach?Ī federal appellate court will consider that question on March 11 and decide whether to overturn a lower court's ruling that found Will Walters did not have enough evidence to challenge his arrest for wearing a leather kilt to the 2011 Gay Pride festival.