Appellate judges uphold Ocean City’s topless ban

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court has affirmed a Maryland beach town’s right to ban women from topless sunbathing.

A law in Ocean City allows men to be topless but not women. A three-judge panel in Richmond, Virginia, ruled unanimously Wednesday that the law is constitutional. Ocean City passed the law in 2017 after one of the plaintiffs in the case contacted Ocean City police and asserted a right to go topless. The appeals court’s ruling said that courts across the country have upheld laws banning women from topless sunbathing.

While the law imposes a restriction on women that is not imposed on men, the judges wrote that Ocean City’s elected leaders can pass laws that protect public sensibilities.

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