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Photo Kaimi Rose Lum
Nudity and public sex are illegal in the National Seashore. |
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No buts about it — Seashore to crack down on public sex
By Kaimi Rose Lum
BANNER STAFF
PROVINCETOWN — Keep your pants on when you’re in the National Seashore — unless, of course, you’re wearing a bathing suit underneath and planning on going for a swim. Seashore authorities say there’s too much public sex going on in the dunes and on the beaches, and they are enlisting the town of Provincetown’s help now in their efforts to curb the activity.
“It’s certainly an issue that affects everyone,” said Seashore Supt. George Price in a recent interview. “It’s not just a park issue. It’s Provincetown. Is that the kind of reputation that Provincetown is looking for? It’s something that we all have to be mindful of.”
Price met with Town Manager Sharon Lynn, the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce and the Provincetown Business Guild recently to ask for assistance in reaching out to the public and making sure that everyone knows what park regulations state about having sex in public.
“It’s pretty simple,” Price said. “It’s against the law. But I think it’s more than that.” When people engage in sex in public locations, he said, they shouldn’t be surprised when other people who stumble upon them, perhaps parents with children in tow, get upset. “It’s quite offensive and shocking, and we certainly believe it’s not showing respect to your fellow visitors.”
What prompted the meeting was the “apparent increase in public sex activity” that the Seashore has documented over the last few years, Price said. Complaints from visitors have multiplied, as have the expensive citations issued by park rangers for “disorderly conduct” (fines can be up to $175).
The park has also noticed that the offenders seem to be moving from fairly remote locations to more public ones, such as the visitor center, popular trails and the bathhouses at well-known beaches. Last year visitors to the Seashore complained about stumbling upon homosexual pornography posted in the bathroom at Pilgrim Heights, groups of people having sex near the West End breakwater, and sexual activity on Longnook Beach in Truro “getting a little out of hand.”
“[Sex] should be encouraged to be indoors and private,” said Chamber of Commerce director Candice Collins-Boden. She expressed support of the Seashore in its effort to educate the public about the law, calling education in this matter “an absolute necessity.”
The town “can’t have a reputation that will scare people away from visiting, she said. “We want to make the vacation experience a positive experience for everyone who comes to Provincetown.”
Collins-Boden read from a statement that the chamber is considering posting on its website. “As a responsible civic organization we support the law and we encourage people to comply. ... Violating the law has serious consequences for individuals ... and not knowing the law does not relieve you from being prosecuted.”
“We’re not talking about just one group,” she added. “This applies to all groups.”
Provincetown Business Guild director Don Knuuttila said he, too, was on board with the Seashore in its efforts to keep the dunes and beaches “G-rated.”
Like Collins-Boden, he stressed that no one group of people should be targeted.
“I don’t think it’s a gay or straight issue. I think it’s an issue of people being inappropriate,” he said. “This is a welcoming community, period, but that doesn’t mean you can have sex anywhere you want to. We do have rules, standards.”
He said the PBG was “here to help in any way that we can. It’s about creating a mutually supportive system to help each other out.” One tactic he has discussed with Price, he said, involves going out into certain areas of the park where sexual activity is said to be commonplace and talking with some of the offenders to let them know about the law. “We haven’t set a time or date but I think it’s a great idea and I’d be happy to do that,” Knuuttila said.
He added that there are websites that encourage public sex in places like the Seashore, and that he would consider logging on to those sites and putting in a word or two about what’s tactful and what’s not.
“If you’re coming here for that, you need to find something else to come for,” Knuuttila said. “Tourism is the most important factor that we have here in Provincetown. It’s the biggest economic engine. We need to be sure that we do nothing to hurt that. ... We need to be cognizant that there are other people.”
He emphasized that “the major, major, major issue here is that we’re talking [with the Seashore], and we’re going to make sure that nobody is targeted.”
Town Manager Sharon Lynn, who characterized the meeting with Price as an “exploratory, informational session” about the complaints the Seashore has had to deal with, said she thought signs in public areas stating that those areas are open to everyone could help.
“I think signage is going to be key in efforts to forestall, if you will, any activity that could be causing attention to the park.”
Although all public nudity is illegal in the Seashore, both Knuuttila and Collins-Boden said they believe there is a big difference between fully involved sex acts and nude sunbathing, the latter being, in their opinion, not offensive at all.
Price said that while nude sunbathing is still against the law, “what this initiative is about is specifically the public sex, and the behavior that is pretty inflictive on folks,” on trails, on beaches and in other areas of high visibility.
“If you can see it from a whale-watch boat, it’s not discreet,” he said.
He said the Seashore will continue its enforcement efforts and coordinate with the town. He was also, on Tuesday, preparing a “joint communique” between the Seashore and the civic organizations in Provincetown.
klum@provincetownbanner.com
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Jun 19th, 2008