Women’s breasts are the next frontier—at least that’s what Nadine Gary thinks. Gary, who is president of GoTopless.org., encouraged gals across the U.S. to go topless yesterday at rallies held in honor of Women’s Equality Day, which arrives August 26.

Gary, who led the rally in Los Angeles’s Venice Beach, calls “Topless Equality” a matter that’s not based on morality, but on the Constitution. Women in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver—nine cities in total—came together to show their support—minus the underwire.

Not everyone who backed the cause was ready to flash flesh, but those who weren’t quite comfortable baring breasts were still encouraged to attend, while men who believe in topless equality were asked to demonstrate the other side of the issue by donning bikini tops.

The GoTopless.org is not without notoriety for reasons other than mere nudity, however. Founded by Raël (whose real name is Claude Vorilhon, a former French racecar driver and auto-journalist in 1974), followers of the sect believe of that life on earth was created in scientific labs by extraterrestrials. All righty, then. Be that as it may, they do take a sex-positive feminist approach to social issues, and often rally for them publicly.

Despite the organization’s dubious origins, the local organizer of the New York rally, Sylvie Chabot, points out that people who participate in Go Topless Day “include thousands of female and male members from a variety of different beliefs, affiliations, philosophies, and sexual orientations who support our efforts.”

But at Chabot’s rally in particular, women aren’t fighting for the right to be topless, which has been legal in New York State since 1992 (in case you didn't know). The issue here is more about social change. Gloria Jacobs, executive director of The Feminist Press at The City University of New York says, “Women and men should have the same rights, whatever they are, including going topless. Europe has survived topless and nude sunbathing. I, on the other hand, prefer a little mystery—for men and women.”

“Forcing women to cover up their chest is a reflection of a sexually repressed society. Of course breasts can be sexual!” Gary notes. “But so is cleavage in a low-cut blouse, a woman’s thighs below a mini skirt, and those are not illegal today—but they may have been, say, 100 years ago.”

Aside from the expected stares, the crowd was generally supportive of the women who made it out in the drizzling rain to demonstrate in Central Park. “To tell you the truth,” says Gary, “the people in the cities where we organized an event have been incredibly supportive. America is far more ready to embrace the recognition of women’s constitutional topless rights, far more than what the media leads us to believe. Right now, women’s breasts are the next frontier in this long battle to conquer sexual repression.”

While some might consider a Constitutional Amendment to free breasts frivolous, the sentiment and the deeper yearning for equality behind it certainly is not.