Topless Women Allowed At Columbus' ComFest, Judge Rules

COLUMBUS, OH — Topless women will be allowed to frolic in Goodale Park during ComFest June 23 through June 25. A federal court granted a temporary restraining order against the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS) and Ohio Division of Liquor Control (ODLC), giving the three-day festival's partygoers permission to lose their tops. U.S. District Judge Michael Watson heard the case on Tuesday.

The ODPS and ODLC had complained that ComFest was in violation of Rule 52, which prohibits the display of the uncovered female breast. Organizers for the festival told NBC 4 that representatives from ODLC threatened to remove the festival's alcohol license if women exposed their breasts.

ComFest started in 1972, according to the event's Facebook page. In 2017, the festival has evolved into a showcase for Columbus' alternative lifestyle options. In recent years, those options have included women shedding their shirts and going to the festival topless.

During the 2016 festival, an agent with Public Safety's Ohio Investigative Unit cited ComFest's organizers for not doing enough to discourage toplessness, the Columbus Dispatch reports. This year, the ODPS and ODLC got proactive in trying to stop the nudity, threatening to shut down the festival if women appeared topless.

ComFest's organizers filed an emergency injunction less than a week before the festival started. The group said it would not abide the agencies' “stereotypical views of proper female attire and patriarchal notions of ownership over females’ bodies.”

Additionally, the organizers said they had no legal authority to bar topless women from attending the festival. Goodale Park remains open to the public during the festival, and the organizers claim park bylaws allow attendees to be topless, NBC 4 reports.

Ultimately, Judge Watson wondered why the festival was being cited after 45 years of existence and granted the injunction against both agencies.

Photos from Rick Uldricks, Patch