Milwaukee Gay Arts
Center files
claim against city
By AP from
gazetteextra.com on the Web, August 24, 2005
MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Gay
Arts Center has filed a claim against the city, contending it committed a civil
rights violation by shutting down performances of a touring musical revue.
An ordinance requiring a city theater license was selectively enforced against
the center last week for a presentation of "Naked Boys Singing" because it is a
gay organization, according to the claim filed Tuesday by attorney Richard Hart
on behalf of the group.
The claim said such a permit was never required for other productions in the
past and that numerous other venues typically present theater performances
without one.
It contends that, even though the production contains nudity, that was no excuse
for the city to shut it down Thursday.
The presentation was halted Thursday when officers from the Milwaukee Police
Department's Vice Control Division arrived and said the center had failed to
obtain a city theater license, required if a production charges to see a
performance.
Anne E. Schwartz, a department spokeswoman, said vice officers handled the case
because of the musical's title.
A city ordinance prohibits frontal nudity but exempts theater and other art
performances from the ban as long as they have "serious artistic merit" and the
predominant nature of the business is not intended to "provide sexual
gratification."
The claim filed Tuesday also states that, as a charitable organization, the
center is exempt from the theater permit requirement. It states that the
center promotes and produces theater presentations that benefit gay-related
groups and that proceeds were designated for various AIDS research groups and
theater groups.
The claim seeks $500,000 in punitive damages, $100,000 for anticipated legal
fees, $27,720 for loss of ticket revenue, $3,000 for loss of advertisement
revenue, $1,700 for the cost of rights for the play and $2,000 for legal fees to
date.
The center applied for the theater permit, but the request must be considered by
the Common Council, which is on break until Sept. 7.
Lt. John Kaltenbrun of the Milwaukee Police Department Vice Division likened the
situation to a new bar opening its doors while its tavern license has yet to be
approved and said it had absolutely nothing to do with the nudity or content of
the show.
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