Spanish Priest launches protest against top-less public swimming pools

Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Aug 11, 2004 / 22:00 pm

The pastor of the Church of San Fernando in Santiago, Spain, Fr. Manuel Cacheda, has launched a campaign to gather signatures to prohibit allowing women to go “top-less” at public swimming facilities, in order to protect children.

The campaign, which has been very well received by parishioners, demands that swimming facilities set up areas for children and their families, “where they don’t have to deal with things they’d rather not see, in the same way that there are beaches specifically for nudists.”

In a controversial move, the mayor of Santiago de Compostela, Nestor Rego, criticized the campaign and linked it to the Church’s efforts “to oppose issues such as homosexual marriage and the separation of Church and State.”

Parishioners said the initiative “was of a purely moral nature and for the protection of childhood,” and that the signatures that are gathered will be delivered to the mayor.

The campaign is similar to efforts in other areas of Spain aimed at getting local government officials in areas visited by tourists to designate beaches and public swimming pools for use by families, with proper respect for decorum and the protection of children.