Reflecting on 2021

I can’t say 2021 has been a memorable year for GAT. We did work on several issues, and on individual cases, we had some success. Our legislative efforts, however, produced minimal success, more like treading water rather than forward motion. This is the nature of government affairs, some years you are just reviewing ongoing proposed legislation, and other years we are actively fighting bad legislation. We can count 2021 as one of the years where, with a couple of exceptions, nudists were ignored by new bills. The exceptions appeared most strongly in Hawai’i, where administrative actions have been the bane of our nude use issues. The use of administrative mandates to block nude use of beaches is central to Florida and Hawai’i.

In Florida, there is an administrative rule that swimsuits are required on all Florida beaches. This last year, AANR-Florida was partnered with other Free Beach groups to try and get the administrative mandate removed from Florida administrate instructions. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is the agency charged with the administration of Florida’s beaches. We support the efforts to challenge that administrative section that mandates swimwear. In 2022, we will again be challenging that requirement.

The Hawai’i administrative actions are more troubling. We are working to see what we can do by working with our local partners in Hawai’i to try and address the actions taken against nudists, thereby challenging those administrative actions.

One nice thing that happened this year while we were all social distancing is members and friends of AANR used the Amazon Smile Program to donate over $1,200 this year to the AANR Education Foundation. The Education Foundation uses these funds for scholarships and education-related activities. It’s great to see our members supporting that effort.

Another area where we provided support was with our local involvement and encouragement in fostering the growth of Friends of Groups. On our monthly GAT Chat, we have discussed the reorganized Friends of Little Beach group on Maui, Hawai’i, as well as groups at Lake Tahoe and Bates Beach in the West. While efforts to expand nude use fell short of our goals, we are determined to move forward as we look to the new year.