In a show of police ‘support’ that not even rock stars see on the Las Vegas strip, seven cars of Sin City’s finest blocked off the strip for the first annual Las Vegas World Naked Bike Ride. The ride, staged at the Erotic Heritage Museum’s south parking lot, saw the police visit, as pretty much everyone knew they would, come this potential show of skin outside in the dusking Las Vegas night.
Revealing irony on a grand scale, in this city known for nude revues and possibly every salacious diversion one can name, the laws against public nudity in Clark County are so severe that if one happens to walk past a window in their house naked and they are seen, they can actually be arrested. Bike riders displaying copious amounts of their flesh, pretty much one of the tenants for any World Naked Bike Ride (and these rides have been happening for years all over the globe), could all be subject to arrest and even possibly landing on the infamous sex offenders list.
The EHM has always enjoyed a great relationship with the Las Vegas police, and the chat between museum director Dr. Victoria Hartmann and some of the city’s cops saw everyone agree that pasties and G-strings (at the very least) would need to be the order of the day (two articles of clothing the bike ride organizers had requested from well before this June night ride). Though a specific route could not be determined, something the police were indeed concerned about, when the seven police cars began to ‘escort’ the riders as they crossed over Sammy Davis Jr Blvd on their way to the strip, no incidents occurred.
With Fox affiliates and Telemundo on hand, a D.J., food vendors, as well as bike fix-it areas under the array of tents in the museum lot, and even the museum’s civil liberty lawyer looking on, the ride championing green ecology, freedom of expression and battling body shamming pedaled-off without a hitch.
In fact, single police cars continued to follow various riders on their personal routes to make sure they returned to the Erotic Heritage Museum safe and sound.