CHICAGO — Whether women should be allowed to go topless in public in Chicago is now a federal case.

An advocate for going topless filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago on Wednesday. It accuses the city and police of violating her rights by ticketing her at a "Go Topless Day" event this summer.

The six-page lawsuit argues Chicago topless-related ordinance violates the equal protection clause because it does allow men to go bare-chested in public.

The filing says an administrative judge fined Sonoku Tagami $150. She wants a federal judge to reverse that fine.

The lawsuit says Tagami wore opaque paint in a bid to comply with the ordinance. It also says she wasn't ticketed during similar events in Chicago.

The city didn't have an immediate comment on the lawsuit.