Stevenson city council member arrested after second shirtless protest

A sergeant and two deputies, and minutes later Sheriff Summer Scheyer, responded to a handful of calls to law enforcement about Lauser’s nudity. Sgt. R. Taylor asked Lauser to put her top back on to avoid a citation for indecent exposure. When she refused, she was handcuffed and escorted to a law enforcement vehicle, then a holding cell.

A friend posted $500 in bail, allowing Lauser to go free after about an hour.

“I’m demonstrating for trans peoples’ right to be treated with respect and dignity and not be sexualized,” Lauser, who is a transgender woman, said in an interview before her protest. “I’m protesting the president calling me a man and anti-American and unworthy of service to my country and all sorts of other stuff.”

During her protest, Lauser carried a cardboard sign with “Stop sexualizing trans people” handwritten in black felt pen on one side and “The president says I’m a man” on the other. She had painted one arm red, put black tape over her mouth and nipples and written “woman, life, freedom” on her chest — all symbols borrowed from demonstrations supporting women or transgender rights in France, Scotland and Iran.

Lauser said she was “trying to go all out” to show that her July 4 actions were a political protest, not indecent exposure. “The first time it should have been obvious as a protest, but I feel like a lot of people didn’t understand the message, or didn’t want to. So I made it really, really, really obvious,” she said. Lauser’s first topless protest was at a gathering on March 31, a day designated to raise awareness of transgender people. That time, law enforcement responded to calls and talked with Lauser but did not arrest her. Sheriff Scheyer said that the circumstances were different this time, citing repeat behavior, multiple opportunities offered to put on a top, the fact the first protest was associated with a specifically related event, and the concerns of the 4 or 5 people who called.

“People were appalled,” Scheyer told Uplift Local. She said while there is “a lot of muddiness” in the situation, and “not a bright line rule,” she decided making an arrest was appropriate this time. “You have to look at the totality of the circumstances,” she said.

The March 31 protest led to an effort to recall Lauser from her city council seat. The recall petition, filed by Stevenson resident Kathleen Fitzgerald, says that Lauser broke the law by taking her shirt off in public, thus violating the oath she took as a city council member. Fitzgerald argued that voters should get a chance to weigh in on Lauser’s service as an elected official before her council term ends in 2027.

Skamania County Judge Randall Krog recently ruled that the recall effort can go forward. Lauser has appealed his ruling. (Separately, Lauser has filed to run for mayor of Stevenson; that vote is Aug. 5.)

Lauser held both protests at the same prominent spot in downtown Stevenson, along Highway 14 as it runs in front of the county courthouse. During the July 4 protest, several passers-by exhibited obscene gestures and shouted swear words at her. Several others honked in support, and a few visitors to Stevenson stopped to offer Lauser their backing. Washington law defines indecent exposure as when a person “intentionally makes any open and obscene exposure of his or her person … knowing that such conduct is likely to cause reasonable affront or alarm.”

Lauser asserted that her actions did not meet the definition of obscene exposure, and noted that a majority of U.S states have determined that simply being bare-chested in public doesn’t inherently count as indecent exposure, although local ordinances don’t always follow suit.

She cited an April decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court that overturned a woman’s conviction for being topless in public. The court’s majority opinion found that Eloisa Rubi Plancarte was not guilty of indecent exposure after determining she had not shown her breasts in a “willfully and lewdly” manner.

Lauser said Washington law needs to better define indecent exposure, and she hopes her case might lead to that. But she added that she has no money to pay for court filings or attorneys. She hopes the ACLU will help with legal counsel, and that the Washington State Supreme Court might eventually consider the merits of her position.

Lauser is due to be formally charged with indecent exposure and enter a plea on July 21. Skamania County prosecutor Adam Kick says he doesn’t have enough information at the moment to say whether she will face misdemeanor or more serious “gross misdemeanor” charges, which are allowed if children under 14 were present. He also told Uplift Local that because his office represents the City of Stevenson, he is seeking an outside prosecutor to handle the case.

Meanwhile, there is no date set to hear Lauser’s appeal of the recall ruling, although Washington law says the appeals court should settle such questions quickly. Fitzgerald, the recall petitioner, says she has to wait until that is resolved before starting to collect signatures for a recall vote.

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Whatnews.Ink contributed to this article. Find more Uplift Local stories at upliftlocal.news/columbia-gorge.