It has been nearly three years for the case for toplessness on Ocean City Beaches. A federal judge has dismissed a civic case challenging a June 2017 Ocean City ordinance prohibiting women from being able to go topless in the same areas that men are allowed to go shirtless on the beach and boardwalk.
The civil suit filed in January 2018 by Chelsea Eline and 4 others said that the ordinance violated their rights under the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.
In 2016 Eline sought an opinion from the town of Ocean City and its police department on the legality of female toplessness. A legal opinions was first sought from the Worcester County State’s Attorney who then passed it to Maryland Attorney General. Before the opinion was rendered Ocean City’s Mayor and Council passed the emergency ordinance banning female toplessness in public areas on Saturday, June 10, 2017
Worcester State’s Attorney’s Office received a letter a few days later on June 15, 2017 from the counsel of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office that says “it is our view that Maryland courts would hold that prohibiting women from exposing their breast in public while allowing men to do so under the same circumstances does not violate the federal or State Constitution.”
From the beginning Ocean City officials have contended that allowing female to go topless offends the sensibilities of most residents and visitors to the family-oriented resort.