Going Topless? Tis the Day

Woo-hoo! Sunday, Aug. 21, happens to be National Go Topless Day—er, so declare the folks who run the Las Vegas-based (naturally) website GoTopless.org.

And yeah, if you click on that link, you'll find some photos that are definitely "NSFW" (or, "not-safe-for-work," depending, of course, on where you work.)

To commemorate the occasion, we here at Hermosa Beach Patch hereby declare it National Better Goop On the Extra Sunblock Day.

There's actually a political point to Go Topless Day, though—topless Constitutional equality, according to the group's press release:

"With the slogan, 'Topless equal rights for all or none,' GoTopless.org is summoning men across America to cover their chests on Aug. 21 in the name of equal rights. On that day, for the fourth consecutive year, the U.S.-based organization will stage a national Go Topless Day protest to proclaim a woman’s constitutional right to go bare-chested in public. During the protest, while participating women go bare, male participants will cover their chests with bikini tops or bras to proclaim equal rights for both genders ... Either we can all be topless or no one can."

Organized topless protests were scheduled to take place across the country, in obvious free-thinking cities like Austin, Chicago, Portland and San Francisco, and less-obvious ones like Chico, CA and Asheville, N.C.

Closer to home, a demonstration hit Venice Beach—there was also a topless rally last year in Venice and in 2009 (see accompanying photo.)

A protest also was scheduled to go down in Washington D.C. at the Capitol Reflective Pool.