Busting "Naked Boys Singing" Again

The Milwaukee Gay Arts Center is suing the city for shutting down its performances of "naked Boys Singing".

The excuse, city police said, was that the center did not have a city theater license.

The suit says that the ordinance was selectively enforced because the city is a gay organization and that a permit was never required for other productions in the past.

The lawyer for the center says that since it is a charitable organization, it is exempt from the theater permit requirement. The center promotes and produces theater presentations that benefit gay-related groups and that proceeds were designated for various AIDS research groups.

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 does not "provide sexual gratification".

The suit seeks damages caused by shutting down the performances.

Not a surprise, the police were tipped off when local evangelist Drew Heiss filed an open records request for a copy of the center's licenses tgo serve alcohol, show nude photos and have nude dancers.

Besides the Atlanta shut down, in January, a federal court ordered the city of San Juan, PR to pay local producers of Naked Boys Singing $1.3 million in compensation for closing the campy musical a day before it was to open at the state government owned theater. That's about $130,000 for each butt dimple.

Why gay men can't put on a musical production that both sounds and looks good is beyond me.
Having it continued to be shut down just raises publicity for the musical. Sure, who wouldn't want to see a chorus of hot guys singing naked. The homophobics may have won this battle, but the war is not over, not for a long shot. Keep singing naked, boys and make us proud. Hell, even if you turn the other cheek, there's plenty more to show off. WOOOF. And let the homophobes cry in their beer.