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.”

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