"God Bless the Naked Rambler"

Support is growing for Stephen Gough, the U.K.'s "Naked Rambler", who languishes in prison because he refuses to wear clothes in public. LadyGod1va, recently featured on the cover of Going Natural Magazine, has started a Facebook group in his support, which now has more members than the one started by The Naturist Society over a year ago.

More than 400 people have signed on to another Facebook page backing a naked run through London in February as a protest against the state incarcerating Gough for merely being nude.

British Naturism should get behind Gough, not because they necessarily consider him a naturist, and not because they approve of his methods, but simply because the issue of personal freedom is at the heart of naturism. Gough is a political prisoner of the state, make no mistake, and his persecution is a threat to everyone who values life and liberty. Being nude is not illegal in the United Kingdom, and Gough is in jail for "breaching the peace", even when the only "offended" people are the police themselves.

Gough might not be the poster child that naturism is looking for, but this government crackdown on nudity could extend to beaches or other naturist areas if this man is allowed to remain jailed for life.

Free Stephen Gough now.