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Teen Nudist Camps Increasing 7/2/2003 Lakes, pine forests and deer come to mind when one hears the name Camp White Tail, a 45-acre camp located in Southampton County in southeastern Virginia. But when about thirty 11- to 18-year-olds arrive there this week for some summer fun, they will shed their clothes—all of them. That generates an entirely different mental picture.
While this nudist camp for teens is a first for the state of Virginia, it is the third nationwide, as similar camps already exist in Arizona and Florida.
Bob Roche, manager of White Tail, which opened in 1984 as a nudist park, says this first summer camp is nothing out of the ordinary for the campers, as all were raised in nudist families.
“All of them are children who are already at peace with their nudity,” Roche told The Washington Times. “What we’re trying to teach them is social interaction with other people.”
The Ivor, Virginia, facility normally attracts about 1,200 guests at any given time, and about 30 families live on the premises. All guests and residents must undergo background checks and abide by strict rules against lewd behavior.
A nudist summer camp for juveniles attending without their parents has raised concerns among state officials and lawmakers.
“We’re very concerned about this development, an atmosphere like that is very clearly an invitation to pedophiles,” Tim Murtaugh, press secretary to Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, told The Charlotte Observer.
But while concern is high, the hands of law enforcement are tied.
“Nudist camps as such are not prohibited by law,” Richard Grizzard, commonwealth’s attorney for Southampton County, told The Washington Times. “If parents drop off their children there, there isn’t [anything] I can do.”
Joe Glover, president of the Family Policy Network, based in Lynchburg, Virginia, doubts that there is no recourse for law enforcement.
“This is private property, but this camp is also a public accommodation,” Glover told Culture & Family Report. “Our Kings Dominion amusement park is private property, too.”
“You can’t convince me that there is no law in this state prohibiting people from stripping minors naked and throwing them together in some sort of private party,” Glover added.
“I think the problem is with the Attorney General’s office,” he added. “Attorney General Jerry Kilgore doesn’t want any high-profile conservative Christian causes on his desk. With an election looming, we have seen him give up strongly held legal ground on issues of concern to conservatives; I feel this case is no different.”
Recently, Glover says, the Attorney General has backed away from enforcing the state’s definition of when life begins, in order to avoid a fight over the taxpayer-financed distribution of the morning-after pill, which can function as an abortifacient, at state colleges and universities.
Most recently, the Attorney General has also refused to uphold Virginia’s sodomy statute despite legal differences between the Virginia law and the Texas law struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last week.
“Given those circumstances, I am not surprised that the Attorney General is not more pro-active on this matter,” Glover added.
Murtaugh maintains that state law enforcement cannot act unless there is lewd behavior.
“To be illegal, the line that has to be crossed is lascivious intent,” he told The Charlotte Observer. “Rest assured that law enforcement will be very aware and vigilant about this.”
Teen nudist camps similar to the one in Virginia are already operating in Arizona and Florida. Another is scheduled to open in Texas within a couple of years. Florida Rep. Mark Foley (R), a member of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus, has written a letter of concern about the Florida camp to Gov. Jeb Bush.
The letter encourages the governor to take a closer look at the issue and consider enacting stronger statutes.
“Obviously, we have no way of knowing whether illegal behavior is taking place in this camp, but the situation clearly raises legitimate issues that should be addressed given that it involves minor children,” Foley’s letter said.
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