Photographer Can Shoot Nude Group On A Street

A photographer had every right to shoot people in the nude on the streets of New York, says a federal appeals court. A transsexual sues his boss over a pink skirt - she won't let him wear it on the job. The Newsex Roundup trains its lens on the unusual, as usual... nrnNEW YORK - Photographer Spencer Tunick was within his rights to gather 100 nude people to photograph in Manhattan last July, says the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court's 2-to-1 ruling came down May 19. A lower court judge had ruled in Tunick's favor as well, but the appeals court stayed that ruling until the appeal was settled - meaning Tunick had to photograph his subjects in clothing instead. His attorney, Ronald Kuby, told reporters it was "quite a nice victory" over Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration at the appeals court. "Spencer was ecstatic," he told reporters. "He's already printing up invitations for the next nude photo shoot.'' That could be at 5:16 in the morning June 4, though an appeal by the city could stop it. nrnBOULDER, Colo. - Benjamin Moore is a transsexual who admits his boss is a nice lady who treats him well, having hired him knowing he was a transsexual. So why's he complaining to the Boulder Human Rights Office about the lady who promoted him to manager of City Streets Bagels? It's over a pink skirt - the one she won't let him wear to work. Susan Gross, who owns City Streets, claims it would make her customers uncomfortable, but Moore says denying him equals telling him he's not a valid person. "(I)n the land of identity politics," wrote University of Colorado law professor Paul Campos in the Rocky Mountain News about the case, "tolerance and kindness aren't enough. It isn't enough to hire people and promote them and raise their pay - one has to celebrate every aspect of their lifestyles as a wonderful manifestation of human diversity, even when that diversity manifests itself in the form of a middle-aged man wearing a pink skirt to work." But Moore has a legal basis for his complaint: Boulder had added transsexuals ("transgendered persons") to the list of those its human rights policy protects. And Gross, whom Campos described as "merely trying to enforce a dress code inside her own business," has had to hire an attorney in the matter. Moore, though, won't budge. He says Gross's action essentially tells him, "It's okay for me to be closeted, but if I'm going to be this bold in my expression, that's not okay." nrn--- Compiled by Humphrey Pennyworth