Social nudity in Seattle is an umbrella reference for Seattle's culture of non-sexualized clothing-optional and topfree events.
Seattle is known for having a diversity of clothing-optional events, a large degree of creativity energy in a wide range of different organizations and events, as well as enough tolerance for such phenomena to take place.
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While Seattle is known for its naked cyclists, clothing-optional activity in Seattle goes back much farther with nude and topfree use of areas of Magnuson Park, Washington Park Arboretum, Discovery Park, Denny-Blaine Park and Secret Beach (a name given to a park that local users wish to keep a secret).
In the late 60s and early 70s, there was a far more rebellious mood and more group activity, including nudity. A lot centered on the University of Washington, with the main skinny-dipping area the NW corner of the Washington Park Arboretum (to some extent a gay cruising area today). When the RH Thompson expressway[1] construction was stopped, folks liked to dive off the unconnected ramps, but this all ended (mid 70s? I’m not sure).
Magnuson Park may not have been accessible to civilians until the late 1980s, when the Sandpoint Naval Air Station was closed. Skinny-dipping was individual or a few people, and at various spots north up to the NOAA buildings. Others may have clearer memories.
Because of the lack of safe places around town (1970s-1990s) some preferred skinny-dipping at lakes (e.g. Lake Kachess) or going to Scenic and other hot springs. No formal organized use has been documented before the Seattle Free Beach Campaign came into existence in the early 2000s.
Additionally, several clubs serve the Greater Seattle area including Fraternity Snoqualmie on the side of Tiger Mountain near Issaquah. Fraternity Snoqualmie at Park Forestia is the home of the Bare Buns Fun Run West and Nudestock. Additionally the Sun Lover's Under Gray Skies (SLUGS) is a naturist travel & events club located in the Puget Sound area.
The Solstice Cyclists are widely believed to be one of the primary groups to popularize festive and artistic nudity and have been an influence on such groups as World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) and its local affiliated World Naked Bike Ride Seattle events including WNBR Downtown Seattle (the longest standing ride), the permaculture-oriented Gardens Everywhere Bike Parade (GEBP), WNBR Seattle Night Rides, WNBR West Seattle, Seafair Cyclists and Hemp Ride as well as other local Pacific Northwest clothing-optional bike rides such as Body Pride Ride (BPR or Beeper) as well as rides that have no specific dress code and tolerate clothing-optional participants such as Seattle Critical Mass/Seattle Critical Ass. In fact, participants of non-Solstice Cyclists events often are assumed to be directly affiliated with Solstice Cyclists, or simply just known as the naked cyclists.
In fact all of the organizers of the latter naked cycling events have in been participants of the Solstice Cyclists, including Daniel Johnson, Nexus (alias), Matt and others.
Body Freedom Collaborative is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the integration and acceptance of non-sexual social nudity in a variety of public and private settings, and was formed in the early 2000s by Mark Storey and Daniel Johnson
While there is nothing in the Seattle Municipal Code about nudity and expectations of behavior, Washington State does have a law protecting against "obscene" behavior while being fully or partially naked. This law is intended to protect citizens against unwanted lewd behavior. RCW 9A.88.010 on Indecent Exposure states "(1) A person is guilty of indecent exposure if he or she intentionally makes any open and obscene exposure of his or her person or the person of another knowing that such conduct is likely to cause reasonable affront or alarm. The act of breastfeeding or expressing breast milk is not indecent exposure." The severity goes up substantially when an offense is made against young children.
In 2005 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported the following:
Parks spokeswoman Dewey Potter said the parks department does not consider simply being naked illegal, and she doesn't remember any complaints during the 13 years she's worked for the city about nudity in the parks -- though a man threatened to complain if people went nude at a rally Storey organized two years ago." Still, Storey said, police have interpreted indecent exposure laws to mean that being nude in public is illegal.[2]—Kery Muraka, reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 4, 2006
The Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation, provided this explanation to those who complained about participants in the 2006 World Naked Bike Ride Seattle event:
While public nudity is objectionable to many citizens, under Washington state’s Indecent Exposure Law, public nudity in itself is not illegal. The law specifies that “A person is guilty of indecent exposure if he or she intentionally makes any open and obscene exposure of his or her person or the person of another knowing that such conduct is likely to cause reasonable affront or alarm.” In order to file a formal complaint, a citizen can contact police to report the particular behavior and register his or her willingness to testify in court if the nude person is cited for indecent exposure. Unfortunately, it is impossible to control all illegal and inappropriate activities in our parks and on our streets. Public officials cannot prevent an event from happening on the basis of its potential offensiveness, only on the basis of its being illegal. The World Naked Bike Ride you encountered was not illegal. There will always be people who push the boundaries, and from your description it sounds as though there were a few of those on the ride. I am forwarding your complaint to the organizer of the World Naked Bike Ride who, of course, is always interested in the public’s reactions.—Kenneth R. Bounds, former Seattle Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation
Former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske had this to say to his staff about questions regarding nude participants in the 2008 Gay Pride Parade:
Washington's indecent exposure law makes it a misdemeanor to 'make an open and obscene exposure of his or her person or the person of another knowing that such conduct is likely to cause reasonable affront or alarm.' In other words, there must be lewd or obscene behavior for an officer to take action. In order for the police to make an arrest, we must have witnesses currently in the public place where the nudity is occurring [sic] who must make a complaint. These witnesses must be willing to appear in court. Also in order to prosecute, the burden is on the government to prove that the offender was knowingly aware that their conduct created alarm and offense of others.—Former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske