'Gay' Mickey and Donald Statue Hauled From Serbian Exhibition

A Serbian rights organisation, the Gay Lesbian Info Centre, GLIC, has said that it will sue the Serbian Ministry of Culture for discrimination, after it ordered the removal of a statue showing Donald Duck pressing against Micky Mouse's groin from the country's culture centre in Paris.

"The Cultural Centre of Serbia in Paris exhibited has 'inappropriate' and explicit content before, but the Culture Ministry did not react until now, when a sculpture shows gay elements," the GLIC said in a press release.

The Ministry on Monday said the statue was removed from the window of the Cultural Centre because of its inappropriate content.

The sculpture, named "Over the Rainbow", work of artist Milorad Stajcic, was part of an exhibition entitled "The End and the Beginning", which opened on August 9.

Since Monday, Serbian tabloids have slated the statue as "indecent" and "scandalous", mainly because it was sited near a replica of a famous Serbian 13th-century fresco, the so-called "White Angel".

After the sculpture was removed, the Gay Lesbian Info Centre said that it was impermissible for state authorities to censor art.

The GLIC called on Serbian artists to raise their voice against censorship and express solidarity with the author of the work, Milorad Stajcic.

Stajcic, however, ironically welcomed the removal, telling the Serbian national broadcaster RTS that "censorship is good for us artists".

"It's OK with me, considering this is a group exhibition of five authors, to have someone else in the window for the duration of the exhibition," Stajcic said.

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