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In the summer 1985 issue of Clothed With The Sun, a reader expresses support for the two Tennessee clubs that have refused to sign the TNS affiliate agreement because of its LGBT non-discrimination clause. Gays would likely “scare off dues-paying members,” the reader warns. 1/6
“It would be little problem to FIX that one section of the agreement,” the reader suggests. The response from editor Lee Baxandall is a prime example of why he was a groundbreaking leader in the naturist movement. Baxandall writes: 2/6
“With the small opportunistic stroke of the pen that you suggest, TNS would betray its potential and undermine the naturist civil rights of that large minority of the population which identifies as gay. And for what?” 3/6
“Only to encourage the clubs—already in many cases out of touch with the real world—to grow still more smug, cliquish, and unappealing to the general public, which appreciates gays for their humanity and knows the time of intolerance is gone.” 4/6
“We feel there’s been enough of self-congratulatory heterosexualism, too little understanding and brotherhood in this movement already. The next time that you feel like putting down someone who is gay, consider how some pretty ignorant people put down those who are nudists.” 5/6
That exchange took place in 1985. When my old campground, Cherokee, opened in 1992, it immediately signed the agreement, and all were welcomed until it closed in 2014. Today, there are no TNS-affiliated parks in the state. 6/6
