Gay Art Controversy Sparks NY Protest
By Black Radio Network Staff
NEW YORK - Hundreds of protestors, shouting "hey, hey, ho, ho, censorship has got to go" have demonstrated outside the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum on New York's Fifth Avenue. They were registering their strong opposition to the Museum's decision to stop showing the late multi-media artist David Wojnarowicz's four-minute video relating to the AIDS crisis. What seemed to spark the Museum's decision to ban the work was an 11 second scene showing ants crawling on a crucifix. A leader of the protest, which included artists and political activists, William Dobbs, charged "this censorship sends a clear message that gay art must not be viewed." He added that it's the responsibility of all cultural institutions to deal with sexual-minority people and culture. The New Museum in New York has begun to display the controversial exhibit and supporters declared that "censorship has no place in America."
