A Utah Woman is Facing Criminal Charges for Being Topless in Front of Stepchildren

A Salt Lake City woman charged with a crime after her stepchildren saw her nude from the waist up wants the law overturned because it discriminates against women. If convicted under Utah's lewdness law, she would have to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

Tilli Buchanan's attorneys build her defence on a recent court ruling that overturned a topless ban in Colorado, Associated Press reported.

They said that the law is not justified due to the differentiating treatment of men and women when it came to baring one’s chest. They have requested the judge to overturn the original charges of misdemeanor lewdness and declare the law unconstitutional.

Buchanan was charged with three counts of misdemeanor lewdness involving a child earlier this year. She said both she and her husband had taken off their shirts while cleaning the garage late 2017 or early 2018 when the children, aged 9 and 13, walked in.

The charges came about later when child welfare officials were investigating a situation that involved the kids, but not Buchanan. During the investigation, the children’s mother decided to report the incident to due to claiming she was “alarmed.”

However, Buchanan’s husband was not charged.

“It was in the privacy of my own home. My husband was right next to me in the same exact manner that I was, and he’s not being prosecuted,” Buchanan was quoted by AP after appearing in court. She “explained she considers herself a feminist and wanted to make a point that everybody should be fine with walking around their house or elsewhere with skin showing,” according to court documents.

Judge Kara Pettit, who was assigned the case on Tuesday, reportedly said it was “too important of an issue” to decide immediately.

Women’s rights groups have been campaigning for the right to go topless. The 'Free the Nipple' campaign has received mixed responses in the country.

In February, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that struck down a Colorado law against women going topless in public places. The court has jurisdiction over federal cases from several states, including Utah, but authorities claimed that such rulings don’t automatically change local laws.

The highest court in New Hampshire upheld the conviction of three members of the Free the Nipple campaign who were arrested for going topless on a beach in 2016.