Great article, Curtis! One minor clarification: police never arrested or charged anyone at any TNT!MEN indoor events. Instead, on just one single occasion (Apr 29, 2000), the owner of The Barn, the bar and dance club hosting our monthly naked dance, was charged under Ontario liquor license regulations prohibiting an owner from “permitting riotous, quarrelsome, violent or disorderly conduct”, for mere nudity at our advertised naked event. (I say “our” because I was a co-founder and board member of TNT!MEN, and helped run the clothing-check service at the event, all as an unpaid volunteer.) That same venue had previously hosted 54 similar, well-advertised naked events without any warnings or complaints.
On a June 26, 2001, Provincial Court Judge Robert Bigelow dismissed the charge, ruling that mere nudity at a venue with a liquor license does not constitute disorderly conduct. Had the charge been upheld, The Barn’s owner might have been fined and the venue’s liquor license temporarily suspended. This ruling was also important for landed naturist clubs in Ontario that rely on having a liquor license as an amenity and source of revenue. I served as (unpaid) co-counsel for The Barn’s owner at the hearing.
The only police charges ever associated with TNT!MEN were against 7 men in our contingent in Toronto’s 2002 Gay Pride Parade. They had marched the entire route clad only in footwear, in front of hundreds of thousands of witnesses, including dozens of police officers (some of whom had video cameras). As unpaid defence counsel for “the censored seven”, I prepared a detailed legal brief explaining why, as a matter of law, there was no reasonable prospect of conviction under the public nudity provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada. (Basically, because the men wore footwear, the Crown would have to prove a reasonable prospect of harm to willing onlookers who knew the Parade would contain nudity.) On Sept 12, 2002, Paul Culver, Regional Senior Crown Attorney (equivalent to an American District Attorney) conceded that I was right and dropped the charges. That decision garnered international media attention.
The first "out" Nudist "gay" or men only nudist venue that I have tracked down, is /was ...Sun Lake Camp for Men in extreme northern Hillsborough County (2 miles south of Lake Como) that ran circa 1948-1953 ish. I have a couple of photos. Owned by a gay naturopath from St Pete and ran by a younger gay man who was a music teacher. The famous naturopath was outed (can't believe he was not out before) when he was arrested on a "morals" charge somewhere else.....I assume soliciting a male prostitute but it was not worth my time to track down the case if the paperwork exists. The manager just disappeared to the extent that a friend took out an ad looking for him a decade later.....as the famous naturopath owner subsequently sold the property of the camp rather quickly and that was that. I have a couple of his party lists from the late 40s which was a who is who of nudists/ naturists from the era. The first national organization MENSUN, based in Chicago, same era. I do not know for sure if it was Gay, or gay friendly or what, but their first convention was scheduled to be at Sun Lake, but not sure if it occurred or not. The info on Mensun is rather sparse and digging for it has not been a priority for me. not being a gay man, it is hard for me in 2026 trying to determine where the Sawmill, a huge clothing optional gay campground NE off Tampa and ones in Tennessee and Georgia fit into everything or not at all
storolaf@yahoo.com. Much of the history of Sun Lake I put as a chapter at the end of my "Nudetopian Nightmares" book as that sort of marked the end of the origins of Naturism in America, which when it started in 1933 and until the death of Dr. Benedict Lust, was an offshoot (and sometimes a crazy offshoot) of early naturopathy. When Lust died, naturopathy fractured, and new people were able to eventually run with the idea, and they cleaned up some of the crazy offshoots form this era and kept many of the good ideas. When I did my Pasco County nudist history book, I did a chapter on the Sawmill, best I could but it was more to dispell a printed myth that it was the 2nd oldest nudist venue in the county.....I have since believed that somehow Sun Lake got mixed up with it even though Sawmill came 50 years later. I wished I could have gotten a little better history of the sawmill but I understand being a nudist historian, I am alwyas looked at a little suspiciously by many of these camps, straight, gay, or they don't care does not matter. I would have liked to ask why did you finally pull the trigger. Stuff like that...idk
also of note in Florida. Lake Como was virulently anti-gay in the 40s-50s, maybe because Sun Lake was close to them or Sun Lake gave an outlet for them. However, since from 1928-1961, The Solarium on Spa Beach in St Pete, was the place to go for nude sunbathing and nude volleyball, nude games and just hanging out (bad pun) naked for gay and for that matter straight single men or men whose wives did not want to join, Mossy Oaks and Later Lake Como. They had a segregate men's and women's side. You could order lunch drinks and get massages. Like much of things on this subject, not much was ever written about the solarium. Despite 100,000 visits a year during the 30s. I have some photos, scoured the historical society which actually sits now where the solarium used to be and I have what I have
Thanks a lot for the very interesting article, I understand that you have invested a lot of time and effort. Important documentation of significant parts of the history and development of the liberation process for us homosexuals, but also for the history of naturism.
Great article, Curtis! One minor clarification: police never arrested or charged anyone at any TNT!MEN indoor events. Instead, on just one single occasion (Apr 29, 2000), the owner of The Barn, the bar and dance club hosting our monthly naked dance, was charged under Ontario liquor license regulations prohibiting an owner from “permitting riotous, quarrelsome, violent or disorderly conduct”, for mere nudity at our advertised naked event. (I say “our” because I was a co-founder and board member of TNT!MEN, and helped run the clothing-check service at the event, all as an unpaid volunteer.) That same venue had previously hosted 54 similar, well-advertised naked events without any warnings or complaints.
On a June 26, 2001, Provincial Court Judge Robert Bigelow dismissed the charge, ruling that mere nudity at a venue with a liquor license does not constitute disorderly conduct. Had the charge been upheld, The Barn’s owner might have been fined and the venue’s liquor license temporarily suspended. This ruling was also important for landed naturist clubs in Ontario that rely on having a liquor license as an amenity and source of revenue. I served as (unpaid) co-counsel for The Barn’s owner at the hearing.
The only police charges ever associated with TNT!MEN were against 7 men in our contingent in Toronto’s 2002 Gay Pride Parade. They had marched the entire route clad only in footwear, in front of hundreds of thousands of witnesses, including dozens of police officers (some of whom had video cameras). As unpaid defence counsel for “the censored seven”, I prepared a detailed legal brief explaining why, as a matter of law, there was no reasonable prospect of conviction under the public nudity provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada. (Basically, because the men wore footwear, the Crown would have to prove a reasonable prospect of harm to willing onlookers who knew the Parade would contain nudity.) On Sept 12, 2002, Paul Culver, Regional Senior Crown Attorney (equivalent to an American District Attorney) conceded that I was right and dropped the charges. That decision garnered international media attention.
Thanks for that correction, Peter! I’ve updated the text. Your help and memory of all these events is greatly appreciated.
The first "out" Nudist "gay" or men only nudist venue that I have tracked down, is /was ...Sun Lake Camp for Men in extreme northern Hillsborough County (2 miles south of Lake Como) that ran circa 1948-1953 ish. I have a couple of photos. Owned by a gay naturopath from St Pete and ran by a younger gay man who was a music teacher. The famous naturopath was outed (can't believe he was not out before) when he was arrested on a "morals" charge somewhere else.....I assume soliciting a male prostitute but it was not worth my time to track down the case if the paperwork exists. The manager just disappeared to the extent that a friend took out an ad looking for him a decade later.....as the famous naturopath owner subsequently sold the property of the camp rather quickly and that was that. I have a couple of his party lists from the late 40s which was a who is who of nudists/ naturists from the era. The first national organization MENSUN, based in Chicago, same era. I do not know for sure if it was Gay, or gay friendly or what, but their first convention was scheduled to be at Sun Lake, but not sure if it occurred or not. The info on Mensun is rather sparse and digging for it has not been a priority for me. not being a gay man, it is hard for me in 2026 trying to determine where the Sawmill, a huge clothing optional gay campground NE off Tampa and ones in Tennessee and Georgia fit into everything or not at all
Let’s talk. I’d love to help track down some of this info, and the existence of Sun Lake Camp is new to me!
storolaf@yahoo.com. Much of the history of Sun Lake I put as a chapter at the end of my "Nudetopian Nightmares" book as that sort of marked the end of the origins of Naturism in America, which when it started in 1933 and until the death of Dr. Benedict Lust, was an offshoot (and sometimes a crazy offshoot) of early naturopathy. When Lust died, naturopathy fractured, and new people were able to eventually run with the idea, and they cleaned up some of the crazy offshoots form this era and kept many of the good ideas. When I did my Pasco County nudist history book, I did a chapter on the Sawmill, best I could but it was more to dispell a printed myth that it was the 2nd oldest nudist venue in the county.....I have since believed that somehow Sun Lake got mixed up with it even though Sawmill came 50 years later. I wished I could have gotten a little better history of the sawmill but I understand being a nudist historian, I am alwyas looked at a little suspiciously by many of these camps, straight, gay, or they don't care does not matter. I would have liked to ask why did you finally pull the trigger. Stuff like that...idk
and Mensun reportedly had a newsletter journal I have never tracked down
also of note in Florida. Lake Como was virulently anti-gay in the 40s-50s, maybe because Sun Lake was close to them or Sun Lake gave an outlet for them. However, since from 1928-1961, The Solarium on Spa Beach in St Pete, was the place to go for nude sunbathing and nude volleyball, nude games and just hanging out (bad pun) naked for gay and for that matter straight single men or men whose wives did not want to join, Mossy Oaks and Later Lake Como. They had a segregate men's and women's side. You could order lunch drinks and get massages. Like much of things on this subject, not much was ever written about the solarium. Despite 100,000 visits a year during the 30s. I have some photos, scoured the historical society which actually sits now where the solarium used to be and I have what I have
What a fantastic read. Thank you for excavating this brilliant history.
Thanks a lot for the very interesting article, I understand that you have invested a lot of time and effort. Important documentation of significant parts of the history and development of the liberation process for us homosexuals, but also for the history of naturism.