Rep. Boehner and conservatives bully the Smithsonian into pulling video from LGBTQ portraiture exhibition

I’m going to go ahead and second Bitch Blogs’ decision to honor incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner with the Douchebag Decree this week. And, believe it or not, it’s not because he met with anti-choice extremist Randall Terry.

Last month, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery opened a new exhibition called Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, which is “the first major exhibition to examine the influence of gay and lesbian artists in creating modern American portraiture.” I know what you’re thinking and I’m thinking it too: Why haven’t I gone to see it yet??

The exhibition hadn’t received any complaints until early this week the conservative news site CNS started ringing the (conservative, homophobic, douchebag) alarm bells:

The federally funded National Portrait Gallery, one of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, is currently showing an exhibition that features images of an ant-covered Jesus, male genitals, naked brothers kissing, men in chains, Ellen DeGeneres grabbing her breasts, and a painting the Smithsonian itself describes in the show’s catalog as “homoerotic.”

Again, why haven’t I gone to see it yet??

But if it’s federally-funded and there are genitals involved, you can bet the Catholic League and Boehner & Co. have something to say about it!

The piece in the exhibition that provoked the most outrage (probably because conservatives could justify their opposition on the grounds that it was “sacrilegious” instead of simply “gay”) was a video by David Wojnarowicz called “A Fire in My Belly” which, for 11 brief seconds, shows a crucifix with ants crawling on it. The video depicts the suffering of an AIDS victim and was made in honor of a former lover of Wojnarowicz who died of the disease. The Catholic League called it “hate speech” that was “designed to insult” Christians.

Boehner and his pals in the House agreed—or at least grabbed the opportunity to re-ignite the culture wars. They claimed that “American families have a right to expect better from recipients of taxpayer funds in a tough economy” and taxpayer-funded museums should uphold “common standards of decency.” And they offered a thinly veiled threat to the Smithsonian: correct the “mistake” or “be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January when the new majority in the House moves to end the job-killing spending spree in Washington.”

Hmmm…bully a museum into self-censorship by threatening to withhold funding? Classy, Boehner. But sadly, bullies often get their way: On Tuesday, the Smithsonian caved and announced they had removed the video. And Boehner & Co. are still pushing for the exhibition to be canceled entirely.

Of course, all that talk about tax-payer funding is complete bullshit. While the Smithsonian does receive some federal dollars, all of its exhibitions are privately funded—and this one, which was supported primarily by individual donors and LGBTQ foundations, was no exception. Also, even if the exhibition was federally funded, I didn’t realize that granted Rep. Boehner curatorial powers. I have no earthly idea why Ohio’s 8th district continues to re-elect him, but I’m damn sure it’s not to determine what makes good art.

But, again, the truth doesn’t matter when the specter of tax-payer funding—whether it be of abortions or “homoerotic” art—is such a useful one for conservatives. As long as someone is offended by what’s (supposedly) being funded, they can use it to justify intervening in sorts of places you’d think the champions of small government wouldn’t dare to go: our wombs, our bedrooms, and now, apparently, our museums.