000712 PETA Asks Judge to Free Anti-Meat CowJuly 3, 2000New York - An animal rights group asked a federal judge for free rein in a beef with New York City over the group's plan to brand its fiberglass entry in the Big Apple's cow parade with anti-meat statements. At stake is whether People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), known for its dramatic and controversial protests, can exhibit a cow bearing phrases detailing the cruelty of butchery and the effects of eating meat, including impotence. The cow controversy stems from a decision by a committee of city representatives and parade organizers to ban three phrases PETA wanted to display. They are: “Eating meat causes impotence because it blocks the arteries to all vital organs, including the penis' -- Dr. Dean Ornish, Medical Advisor to President Clinton,” “Cattle are castrated and dehorned without anesthesia” and “'A lot of times the man skinning the cow finds out an animal is still conscious' -- USDA Inspector Timothy Walker.” PETA sued New York City, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the organizers of the CowParade New York 2000 alleging the decision violated the group's free speech rights. The animal rights group paid $15,000 to mount two cows, one of which is already on display. CowParade is an art exhibit that began June 15 and ends September 3 in which about 500 life-sized fiberglass cows have been decorated and placed in various public areas throughout the city. PETA asked Judge Victor Marrero to order the defendants to give them a cow, as they had allegedly agreed to do. The judge took the matter under advisement. The cows, which are sponsored by a variety of groups, can be found everywhere from the front of the federal courthouse where an upright cow wielding a gavel presides in judicial robes to a tony cow posing at the doors of Bloomingdale's flagship store. The PETA cow was among four designs that were rejected; another was a Monica Lewinsky heifer. However the committee did allow PETA to mount a second cow in Manhattan's Greenwich Village that is dressed in faux leather boots, jacket and pants. Notorious London rubberwear designer Pigalle, whose fashions are sold at fetish shops, unveiled the entry at a news conference earlier Thursday surrounded by signs reading “Fake for the Animals' Sake and “Pleather Yourself.” Gordon Einhorn, a Harrisburg, Pa. lawyer representing PETA, argued that the committee's guidelines only prohibited works that were sexual, political or religious in nature and that the phrases on the banned cow did not fall into any of these areas. Einhorn said that in contrast, the committee did allow an artist to display a cow that was labeled in meat cuts such as steaks, chops and short ribs. The cow was a tribute to the artist's father, a butcher. “On one side they sanctioned this piece of art. ... PETA should be able to make the opposite side of this debate,” Einhorn said. Louise Moed, a city lawyer, said the PETA design was meant to shock and “clearly was not within the spirit of whimsy.”
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com |
