October 4, 2007

A high school teacher in Richmond is suing school officials for firing him after they learned that he created paintings with his bare buttocks.

Stephen Murmer says in a federal court complaint filed Thursday in Richmond that his January firing from Monacan High School violated his First Amendment rights.

The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, seeks unspecified damages.

School officials investigated Murmer after seeing a video on YouTube in which Murmer, clad in a swim thong and a Groucho Marx fake-nose mask, demonstrated how he applies paint to his backside and presses it onto a canvas.

Murmer, using the pseudonym "Stan Murmur," markets "butt-print art" on his web site which can be seen below.