FARMINGTON — Worries that busloads of counterprotesters would show up to disrupt Friday's Topless March for Gender Equity were unfounded.
Event organizer Andrea Simoneau tells the crowd to begin the topless march from the gazebo in Farmington on Friday.
A large crowd gathers for the topless march in Farmington on Friday.
The marched lasted less than 15 minutes.
Protesters at the afternoon event were peaceful, including a couple dozen women who stood on the sidewalk, holding hands in prayer as the topless marchers moved along the sidewalk. As marchers passed, the women turned their backs on the demonstration, showing their displeasure with what they called "unacceptable behavior."
Dovey Balsam, who organized the silent prayer, issued a statement at the demonstration: "We, as Christian women, have come together to pray for the women that are marching. We feel that the display is inappropriate. We feel that a woman's body is sacred and should be treated with respect."
No one attempted to interfere with the demonstration along Main Street, which drew a crowd of people taking pictures, including dozens of men, some of who jeered or cheered at the passing women.
Andrea Simoneau, the 22-year-0ld University of Maine at Farmington student who organized the march, said earlier this week that she had hoped the event would be peaceful and protesters would not interfere with their demonstration. Simoneau's father had also turned out at the event in support of his daughter, according to a report from the march.
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What a joke
What a farce it truly is sad that these "women" feel this is the only way to get attention because I can't for the life of me see what other purpose or relevance the march had when it was not illegal to begin with.....but then again it probably will be soon, now that they put on this freak show.
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This whole situation made a sharp division in my hometown. Some for, some against. But what is really great is that we live in a country where this is OK.
Sure, whether or not we can go topless in a little Maine college town is not of earth shattering importance, NOW. But those who are so against it and are wailing for new laws to be made so that this "OMG horrible spectacle" does not ever occur again in our little Norman Rockwell town again need to also think, and think HARD about what they are asking for.
Do you REALLY want one more law on our books? Do you REALLY want to make this child's display (and personally, my dad would kick my butt, and I would rather die than create such a spectacle, but hey, "this is a free country", RIGHT???) a matter for GOVERNMENT CONTROL????
I for one think this girl made some poor decisions. Choose your battles, I say, and this one was little silly. It was cold, it is already legal, and changing human nature is like herding cats, but so be it. All she did was demonstrate (if the massive crowds containing motorcycle gangs was even a slight hint) that guys love a free peep.
Farmington, by the way, received a great economic stimulus in the deal.
ANYHOW...I digress. This was silly, this was fun, this made Farmington a little newsworthy, no one was hurt {well, except that this girl, despite having a quality education (and what is with these people blaming the university...like they endorsed this!..they will be glad, I am sure, to NOT have you helicopter mothers sending your kids there, BTW) will not be able to obtain a job anywhere on the east coast} and aside from traffic being a pian in the neck, we all saw a litttle history in action with a demonstration that is proof that we still (for now) have a free country for our soldiers to come home to.
I did not like this at first..mostly because it seemed silly and pointless. But I did like the bruhaha it made in the town, (OK, so I liked the drama, I will admit that..it is Maine, after a long winter..) and the fact that we still have intolerant people who would cry and moan to legislate the right to protest ANYTHING makes me sigh and wonder if they would like me protesting their religious beliefs...freedom is FREEDOM...
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Someone needs to do some serious homework, whether it be the town officials or our state elected officials. Please define indecent exposure as to what the law says in Franklin county or in Maine. People need not be ashamed of their bodies, but there is a time and a place to not be ashamed. Marching down the streets is not the time or place...what the hell are we teaching our children? As far as I am concerned, this opens a big can of worms for all the perverts that are molesting defenseless children. What is a child suppose to think about what is right and what is wrong? We raise our children, well after today I am sure there are some that don't, but I bet the majority of us raise our children to respect our own bodies, which includes keeping it clothed in public and not putting ourselves out in the public view for all to see.
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Thankfully, this just put the nail in the coffin of my son not going to Farmington this Fall. He wants to stay in Maine, and eventually teach. Farmington used to fit that bill; no longer. Last year it was the desecration of the American flag, and this year an exhibition of maligned self exhibitionism.
What a shame to witness a formerly "good school" compromise it's value system.
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What we are seeing in farmington is the "trash' of 'Maine'on Display' Think about this would you be proud to associate with these Fools/
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What the hell is wrong with all of you? This is exactly what people should be doing all over the country. American citizens having their voices heard once in a while is a wonderful thing. There is no law against women revealing their breasts publicly, no one was arrested. Everything started and ended peacefully and people were brought together. Why would anyone be upset with what happened in Farmington today? Because for years society says it's wrong? It's like a swear word or the middle finger, it's only a big deal if you make it one. I personally think it should become a yearly event and more people should join them, men and women. I can say I went there and had an excellent time and before I went... I wasn't sure who I would side with. Then it all came to me, it doesn't matter. Why would it? Seriously? Everyone had fun on both sides. I should care if a woman walks down the road with her top off. There is nothing sexy about it, now what would be sexy is a woman walking down the road in a bikini, lingerie or fishnets. That's worse than a woman showing her breasts. Basically what it comes down to is a percentage of the people obviously have a problem with a woman revealing her nipple. It's all about the nipple, what is the problem with a woman exposing her nipple? Men do it. What kind of problems are men creating by exposing nipples? None. I think the people who are against it only fear it. All that will happen if the idiotic people against it wine too much is we will have more laws. Men will not be able to go in public shirtless and neither will women. You idiots out there are going to forfeit a right you already have in order to stop your neighbors from obtaining a right they deserve. American citizens turning on one another once again, brothers and sisters of this nation destroying each other. The big picture is that a lot of little laws make one big law. I think people have had enough rights wrongfully taken away from them since the 9/11 incident. Instead of looking at your neighbor and saying "No, we don't do that here". Maybe you all should look at your neighbors and say "Let's give it a shot and see where it goes". Let me tell you some of the things that hurt people incase anyone's forgotten, unemployment, fuel costs, food costs, medical costs. Those are the things that hurt people, destroy and end lives and families, not a womans nipple. People need to wake up because those are the serious problems. Those are the problems that have brought us pain and continue to do so and no one's doing anything about it. Half of you can't think on your own or what? I'd be willing to bet a good percentage of people are only against it because so and so are. Take some time and think people. What really is right and what really is wrong? It's easy to figure out, infact it's right under everyone's nose. I suppose sometimes the obvious are the least obvious. As far as I can see, no one has the right to stand up and tell a woman she can not reveal her nipple in a public place until you've stood up and told the elitist's of this country and pharmaceutical industries that you are not going to pay 100 dollars for a chemo pill in order to keep living another day, you are not going to pay the ridiculous costs for fuel to heat your home or get you to your minimum wage job an hour away and much, much more.
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As a woman (and college student myself) I found this march totally wrong and immoral and it just adds to the exploit of women. I'm sure all they did was please the "dirty old men" in the crowd who watched them. There are noble things women can and should do to promote equality for women. The virtues of women that are notable are compassion and empathy. Why can't people do virtuous things these days rather than morally degrading things.
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The organizers own dad came down to support his daughter it says.... annnnd to get a look at her cans haha has anyone check for this guys name on the registery yet?
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Sags and bags, expected in Farmington. Nothing new here.
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notice they did this before the kids got out of school?
this was a free strip show and you didn,t need to be 21.
whats next r the men going to march bottomless???
or walk down maine street with your pottys and have a poop show.BECAUSE you should have equal rights with Animals.
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common sense and morals used to prevail. What happened in Farmington today is proof that that is no longer true and as a result, laws/ordinances likely will be passed.
Why don't we do that here?
Common sense and morals.
How's that?
If you had any common sense or morals you'd understand.
Explain the reasoning to me?
Common sense says if we don't do that here, there must be a moral reason, because this country was founded on moral principles. And we don't do it here. And if common sense and morals are going to prevail, we shouldn't do it here. Simple isn't it?
.
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Most people who flash themselves on the street are arrested (or should be). Despite doing this before school was out, I'm sure there were younger children in the area. I heard of someone doing this for a video once. The police heard about it and they arrested the person a day or two later. They should do that for indecent exposure.
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The only thing that comes to mind reading the story....what boobs!
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Wow, you're so tolerant that you had to intentionally misspell my 'name' in a derogatory way to insult me. That makes you no better than me. I am entitled to my opinion. Seriously, the guy with the sloped forehead is probably a nice guy but standing there with a camcorder to 'document' the march makes him look pathetic, same with the rest of what looks to be mostly toothless old men. Of course they had smiles, half of these guys havent seen a 22yr old tit in 40 years. The fact that many showed up just to take pictures illustrates exactly what is wrong with this whole picture.
There were no laws on the books prohibiting this because common sense and morals used to prevail. What happened in Farmington today is proof that that is no longer true and as a result, laws/ordinances likely will be passed.
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"Maineruiner" I was raised to be tolerant and I raised my two sons to be the same but you seem to want to use insults and derogatory statements describing these people exercising there rights. You must live a miserable life , Sad really.
Nancy thanks for proving my point majority is supposed to rule, quite simply if you don't like it don't look. By the looks at the photos I see the citizens of Farmington enjoying themselves on a blustery spring afternoon smiles abound, hardly a waste of time it seems.
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We don't do that here.
Why don't we do that here?
Because it's not right.
Why isn't it right?
Because we don't do that here, silly.
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I hope this is the end of this fiasco in Farmington . Either the town fathers pass some kind of ordinance or the State does. Some families would like to do their weekly shopping in town and will not while this dame is loose. Many other towns and cities in this State have passed decency laws and I would think Farmington would want to. Maybe the businesses get plenty of walk-ins from the college, enough to keep them going. What a selfish stupid witch this Andrea is. If she ever gets breast cancer, she will remember this day.
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heh look at the slanthead in the third picture with the camcorder, classic and expected, the only other way he'll ever see topless women in person is if he pays for it...lots of old men with no teeth too.
I take it back, that picture does more damage to Farmington than the march.
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oh, and pistonjay, if this is so acceptable, why are there no frontal shots in the paper? they've certainly shown men with no shirts in the paper...
exactly, because it's morally loose and it's degrading to women.
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lotsa muffintops there...wonder how many were straight?
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Looks to me like these ladies need to shed their "Freshman 50"....
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Yes because a simple organized excercise of ones rights deserves to be punished doesn't it? You are definently one those people that see something that they disagree with and say "There should be a law against that!" aren't you? Do you practice tolerence or just talk about it?
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Pistonjay, it is absolutely their right. As it is everyone's right to their opinion. Truly, I prefer someone like Andrea rather than a sheep, she at least follows through on her convictions, much as I disagree with them. Tolerence of social behavior goes both ways in a democracy, though, and the majority rules last I heard. I believe guidelines concerning bare breastedness in public was never addressed because truly, it was understood that it is not acceptable behavior for the majority of citizens.
Really, you should be angry at the people who have forced the issue. If it wasn't for them the citizens of Farmington wouldn't have had to waste time even discussing it.
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Farmington just needs a simple ordinance against loitering with intent to annoy.
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Now I hope either the State of Maine or at least Farmington can get a law in place so that it never happens again.
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