Phoenix Feeley refused to pay an $861 fine, and now she is jailed because she was tanning topless on a beach at Spring Lake, New Jersey. Hit the jump for more details.
Phoenix Feeley, 33, was already arrested twice in June 2008 for letting her top down, and she is currently on a hunger strike while serving jail time. She refused to pay an $861 fine for topless sunbathing, and she is now in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution. Before entering jail on Monday, she filed a direct appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Feeley stated, “I refuse to pay a fine for an act that is legal for a man but is illegal for a woman.”
For the past four days she has not eaten while in jail. GoTopless, a national women’s organization that is supporting Feeley, argues that the laws violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The president of GoTopless, Nadine Gary, stated, “Since New Jersey men are allowed to go topless in public, then, constitutionally, so must women; or else … men must be also forced to wear something to hide their chests.”
