Gay Santa Play Hits Big Apple

Santa Claus isn’t just coming to town – he’s coming out of the closet.

“Santa Claus is Coming Out” is an off-Broadway comedy featuring Jeffrey Solomon in a one-man production that tells the story of Jolly Old Saint Nick falling in love with Pinocchio’s father, the Italian toy-maker Geppetto.

“The show plays out against the backdrop of the latest salvo in America’s Culture Wars: the debate on providing gay role models to children,” said Jeffrey Solomon in a statement posted on Playbill. “It was inspired by my research into the parents’ rights movement to keep gay issues out of the classroom.”

The show is also being used as a fundraiser for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization founded by Kevin Jennings, President Obama’s Safe Schools Czar. GLSEN says the money will be used to “help support our programs that work to make schools safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.”