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MILWAUKEE, Aug 25, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Milwaukee's gay community is crying foul over the city's closure of the national tour of the Off Broadway musical revue, "Naked Boys Singing."
The comedy-revue opened last Monday at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center but was shut down by the police department's vice squad four days later, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
City officials claimed the center failed to obtain a theater license and therefore, the show was illegal. The center, however, said police visited before the show opened and said all of its permits were in order.
The Gay Arts Center fired back this week by filing a civil rights claim against the city saying the ordinance was being selectively enforced because the center is a gay organization, the newspaper said.
The suit says the none of the center's past productions required theater licenses and it pointed to other venues that hosted various productions without the permits as well.
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.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
