Editing Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (section)

====Thong bikini ban====
[[Thong]]s (or any swimwear revealing any portion of the [[buttocks]]) are not permitted in public in Myrtle Beach, including all beaches.<ref name="myrtle_beach_thong_ban">{{Cite web |last=City of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina |date=11 June 2013 |title=Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Code of Ordinances >> - CODE OF ORDINANCES >> Chapter 14 - OFFENSES AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS >> ARTICLE V. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC MORALS >> |url=https://library.municode.com/sc/myrtle_beach/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH14OFMIPR_ARTVOFAGPUMO_S14-83PUEXSPANPAUN |access-date=3 July 2014 |pages=Sec. 14–83. Public exposure of specified anatomical parts unlawful |quote="It shall be unlawful for any person to intentionally appear in any public place in such a state of dress or undress so as to expose to the view of others the human male or female genitals, pubic area, pubic hair, buttocks, anus, vulva or any portion of the female breast at or below the areola thereof." (Ord. No. 2013-28, 6-11-13)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Myrtlebeach.com |title=Myrtle Beach laws: Swimming / Sun Bathing |url=http://www.myrtlebeach.com/site/pages/myrtle-beach-laws/ |access-date=4 July 2014 |quote="Swimwear is subject to city ordinances in Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, and Surfside Beach. It is illegal for anyone to wear a thong bathing suit."}}</ref> Violators of the ban may be arrested, jailed, or fined.<ref>{{Cite news |last=WMBF News Staff |date=24 May 2013 |title=Woman arrested in Myrtle Beach for wearing thong |publisher=[[WMBF-TV]] |url=http://www.wect.com/story/22414283/woman-arrested-in-myrtle-beach-for-wearing-thong |url-status=dead |access-date=4 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714165256/http://www.wect.com/story/22414283/woman-arrested-in-myrtle-beach-for-wearing-thong |archive-date=14 July 2014 |quote="A North Carolina woman was arrested Friday morning for indecent exposure after officers saw her wearing a thong swimsuit."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lee Moran |date=27 May 2013 |title=Woman, 22, arrested for wearing a thong bathing suit at Myrtle Beach |work=[[Daily News (New York)|NY Daily News]] |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-arrested-wearing-thong-myrtle-beach-article-1.1355434 |access-date=4 July 2014 |quote="Cops in South Carolina busted a 22-year-old woman for wearing a thong bikini on the beach."}}</ref> The city's "thong ordinance" has been in effect since the 1990s.<ref>via [[Associated Press]]. [http://thetandd.com/news/myrtle-beach-may-adjust-thong-law-toss-warnings/article_e42c0a91-ff25-50e3-98fd-c9d266f7fff6.html "Myrtle Beach may adjust 'thong law,' toss warnings"], ''[[Times and Democrat]]'', 10 February 2009. Accessed 24 November 2015. "The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reports that the current so-called 'thong ordinance' requires officers to issue a warning before issuing tickets. Myrtle Beach has banned thongs on the beach for 16 years."</ref>

=====Motorcycle rallies=====
[[File:Yellow and black and silver Suzukis Black Bike Week 2008.jpg|thumb|right|Riders in traffic at the 2008 [[Black Bike Week|Atlantic Beach Bikefest]]]]
Myrtle Beach Bike Week, also called "Harley Bike Week", is a week-long [[motorcycle rally]] first held in 1940, the same year Kings Highway was paved.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Myrtle Beach Bike Week 2015 - Myrtle Beach, SC - MyrtleBeach.com |work=MyrtleBeach.com |url=http://www.myrtlebeach.com/myrtle-beach-bike-week/}}</ref> The event has attracted as many as 200,000 visitors to the city every May. [[Black Bike Week]], founded in 1980, takes place the weekend around Memorial Day Weekend and is the largest African American motorcycle rally in the US and attracts as many as 400,000 visitors. The event was created in response to a history of discrimination against African-American visitors and riders to Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand Area.<ref name="GroupLawsuits">{{Citation |last=Gettleman |first=Jeffrey |title=Suit Charges Bias at Rally for Black Bikers |date=21 May 2003 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/21/us/suit-charges-bias-at-rally-for-black-bikers.html?fta=y |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=A22 |access-date=31 January 2010}}</ref><ref name="Gettleman 122">{{Citation |title= Claims of Bias Cloud an American Dream for Black Bikers |first= Jeffrey |last= Gettleman|date= 25 May 2003 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/25/us/claims-of-bias-cloud-an-american-dream-for-black-bikers.html?pagewanted=1|access-date=31 January 2010 |page=122 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=First-Wave Feminist Struggles in Black Motorcycle Clubs |access-date=30 January 2010 |url=http://ijms.nova.edu/Fall2009/IJMS_Artcl.Conner.html |journal=[[International Journal of Motorcycle Studies]] |date=Fall 2009 |first=M. Shelly |last= Conner}}</ref>

The Myrtle Beach government created 15 new laws aimed at preventing all sanctioned motorcycle events within the city in response to controversy including accusations of racism by African-American riders during their event and complaints of lawlessness and poor behavior during all highly attended events. Several lawsuits by the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP) against Myrtle Beach businesses were settled with agreements that discrimination cease, compensation be given to some plaintiffs, and employees be given diversity training.<ref name="GroupLawsuits"/><ref name="Gettleman 122"/><ref>{{Citation |last=Knight Ridder |title=Myrtle Beach, S.C., resort hotel settles NAACP discrimination lawsuit |date=21 October 2004 |newspaper=Sun News |location=Myrtle Beach, South Carolina |author-link=Knight Ridder}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vGOPa23uAYUC&pg=PA410 |page=410 |title=NAACP: celebrating a century : 100 years in pictures |author1=[[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] |author2=The Crisis Publishing Co |publisher=Gibbs Smith |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4236-0527-0 }}</ref> The NAACP suit against the City of Myrtle Beach was settled in 2006 without the city paying damages, but with the agreement police would use the same traffic control rules during both the black and the white motorcycle rallies.<ref name="MBrelease">{{Citation |last=Kruea |first=Mark |title=NAACP Offers to Settle Lawsuit (press release) |date=2 February 2006 |url=http://www.cityofmyrtlebeach.com/naacp.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708161223/http://www.cityofmyrtlebeach.com/naacp.html |publisher=The City of Myrtle Beach |access-date=12 April 2010 |archive-date=8 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[South Carolina Supreme Court]] in June 2010 unanimously overturned one of the 15 ordinances, which had required all motorcyclists to wear [[Motorcycle helmet|helmets]], on the grounds that the state law, requiring helmets only for riders under age 21, cannot be preempted by a city ordinance. In addition, the Court ruled that the ordinance created undue confusion, and that the city itself had invalidated their own helmet law and some other ordinances in a subsequent amendment.<ref name="Harley2010">{{Citation |last=Harley |first=Bryan |title=S.C. Court Overrules Myrtle Beach Helmet Law |date=9 June 2010 |url=http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/4/7177/Motorcycle-Article/S-C--Court-Overrules-Myrtle-Beach-Helmet-Law-.aspx |work=MotorcycleUSA.com |access-date=14 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Anderson |first=Lorena |title=Myrtle Beach helmet law quashed; High court backs state standard |date=9 June 2010 |url=http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/06/09/1521080/mb-helmet-law-quashed.html?storylink=mirelated#ixzz0qrIO8v00 |work=Myrtle Beach Sun News |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912185849/http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/06/09/1521080/mb-helmet-law-quashed.html?storylink=mirelated%23ixzz0qrIO8v00 |access-date=14 June 2010 |archive-date=12 September 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The law had been challenged by a group of motorcyclists and a group of Myrtle Beach businesses called BOOST, Business Owners Organized to Support Tourism, who opposed the city's anti-motorcycle tourism policy.<ref name="TourismPolicy">{{Citation |last=Harley |first=Bryan |title=Court to Rule on Myrtle Beach Helmet Law |date=3 February 2010 |url=http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/4/472/6/Motorcycle-Blog-Post/Court-to-Rule-on-Myrtle-Beach-Helmet-Law-.aspx |access-date=4 February 2010 |archive-date=9 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209032717/http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/4/472/6/Motorcycle-Blog-Post/Court-to-Rule-on-Myrtle-Beach-Helmet-Law-.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=SC high court judge questions motives of MB helmet law |url=http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11765299 |access-date=4 February 2010 |date=3 February 2010 |publisher=WIS News 10 Television |location=[[Columbia, South Carolina]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609140728/http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11765299 |archive-date=9 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=SC Supreme Court hears Myrtle Beach helmet law cases |first=Adam |last=Fogle |date=4 February 2010 |url=http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2010/02/04/sc-supreme-court-hears-myrtle-beach-helmet-law-cases/ |access-date=4 February 2010 |archive-date=20 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420115942/http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2010/02/04/sc-supreme-court-hears-myrtle-beach-helmet-law-cases/ |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |date=4 February 2010 |title=High court hears Myrtle Beach helmet law cases; Justices grill attorneys, hold off on decisions |first=Lorena |last=Anderson |access-date=4 February 2010 |url=http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/1296783.html |newspaper=The Sun News }}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>