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NANTUCKET, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — After the island residents voted to make all Nantucket public beaches topless, the bylaw was made official on Tuesday when Attorney General Maura Healey signed off on it.
In other words, anyone, regardless of gender, can go topless at any and all public beaches on Nantucket.
Healey's office had extended the review period on the bylaw, pushing back the decision deadline to December 7. In the time between the community's approval and the Attorney General's, Healey's office looked over the bylaw from a legal perspective, to decide whether the proposed amendment was in line with the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth.
In the concluding statements of the decision, Healey's office discerned there was no such conflict between the bylaw and already established state law.
"Really this is righting a wrong— catching up to what was already legal for men, allowing the space for all bodies to be topless," said Dorothy Stover, who originally filed the proposal more than a year ago.
Since the close vote in May, Stover tells WBZ's Tim Dunn that many people that were opposed to the idea have come around.
"I've actually seen more people come forward and say that if they were at the town meeting they would have voted, and I've had people come forward that have changed their minds, even from the town meeting," Stover said.
The regulation applies not only to beaches, but to all properties adjacent to ponds owned by the Town of Nantucket too.
WBZ's Tim Dunn (@ConsiderMeDunn) reports.
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