My wife and I were at a festival in Edmonton, and came across a booth for the FCN (Federation of Canadian Naturists). We got to talking about the uproar in Calgary over the family nude swim nights. The fact is, they've been having these for years, if not decades. It's true that there was definitely more advertising this time round, which came to the attention of some of the more conservative elements in rural Alberta. (AB still has a bit of that old stigma of being that kind of grassroots populist. It's Canada's Texas, after all.)
I'm happy to say that the police have arrested a suspect in the threat making, a woman in a small city in Alberta. I believe she and her supporters way have been acting out of a misplaced sense of moral outrage, actually thinking they were protecting children.
If there's anything for us to learn from this, it's a reminder that naturism simply cannot live in a bubble, now more than ever. I no longer hide from friends, family or coworkers the fact that we are nudists -- and I'm amazed at how little some people know of the lifestyle. (No, naturism is not for swingers. Yes, entire families participate. No, we are not all Venuses and Adonises -- rather far from it, speaking for myself.)
Education is the key, particularly in this time of extremes. Without it, we risk being cast as a group to the fringes, or worse.