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Plenty of controversy has arisen in Oklahoma surrounding a federal court ruling in Colorado that states women can go topless in public.

On Monday, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter stated that the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Colorado does not immediately invalidate local and state public nudity laws in Oklahoma. Bartlesville Police Chief Tracy Roles said that the Bartlesville Police Department will hold true to what the Attorney General said about the ruling.

Although the federal court uses the 14th Amendment - which has the equal protection clause - as their argument that women have the same constitutional right as men to walk around topless, Chief Roles said the State of Oklahoma's laws are more restrictive. He said if they do open the door in Oklahoma to allow women to go topless after the federal court's ruling, they could face legal challenges in the future.

But in the meantime, the law of the land in Oklahoma does not permit women to be topless. Chief Roles said this has not been a problem in Bartlesville so far, but if a woman is caught without a top on, they will be arrested for indecent exposure. He said that the Bartlesville Police Department will task their officers to enforce the law, but he does not foresee this as a problem in the city moving forward.

The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling impacts Kansas, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico as well as Oklahoma.