Nudists Finding That Life Isn’t a Beach

Grace was determined to spend her vacation naked.

“I won’t wear a bathing suit,” she said, standing with her hands on her bare hips. “That’s the point. To me, it’s immoral to wear a bathing suit.”

But not everyone shares this moral code. So Grace, who would not give her last name, had to spend more than $2,000 to come from North Carolina to the red clay cliffs of Martha’s Vineyard.

Gay Head, about 20 miles from where President Clinton spent his vacation, could be the only beach left in New England where the clothed and unclothed still mingle in harmony.

But it hasn’t been easy being a nudist this summer.

Grace had planned to go to South Kingstown, R.I., where Green Hill Beach was bought by the New England Naturist Assn. in June.

But that beach was closed temporarily before she could arrive.

The town said it wants the nudists out because Green Hill is a high-flood zone. Using the property for recreation could cause erosion, said South Kingston’s town counsel, Terrence Simpson.

Dennis Kirkpatrick, vice president of the New England Naturists, said his group is a victim of prudish prejudice.

“It’s NIMBY,” he said, using the acronym for “Not In My Back Yard.” “Zoning laws have become convenient to use against naturists.”

Green Hill is one of 1,000 beaches listed in the “World Guide for Nude Beaches and Recreation,” published by Lee Baxandall, founder of the national Naturist Society.

Baxandall said the society, based in Oshkosh, Wis., and its 20,000 members have two missions: to promote body acceptance through nudity, and to encourage more public places to allow nudists.

Despite its goal, the number of public places where nudists are welcome is diminishing. Baxandall said listings of nude beaches in the “World Guide” have decreased by 20% in the last five years.

And even beaches still listed might not be completely nudist-friendly.

During National Nudists Week in July, five people received citations for skinny-dipping in a Pepperell pond listed in the guide. Five beaches on Nantucket also are listed in the guide, but the Chamber of Commerce says they are not clothing-optional.

Baxandall attributes the decline in nude beaches to a right-wing, fundamentalist Christian movement to wipe out nudity.

He said lawmakers in states such as Missouri, Tennessee and Ohio are trying to pass legislation ostensibly to wipe out topless bars but actually to prevent any kind of nudity.

But environmental protection measures have closed some nude beaches in New England. Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, R.I., was closed in 1988 by a federal program to protect the piping plover, a rare sea bird.

And a special ordinance aimed at easing crowded parking and protecting dunes from being trampled banned nudity on the Cape Cod National Seashore in 1974. That inspired Baxandall to start the Naturist Society and begin publishing his guide.

Baxandall said environmental respect is one of the naturist credos, and the Cape Cod dunes would not have been eroded if it weren’t for “gawkers”--clothed folks looking for cheap thrills.

Gawkers were a problem before Green Hill Beach was closed.

“Binoculars, telephoto lenses,” Kirkpatrick said. “Basically, they’re trying to catch our people doing something illicit. But overt sexuality is not allowed. The most they’ll find is someone putting suntan lotion on someone else’s back.”