On Saturday, October 2, the Catholic League will lead a rally protesting the “Sensation” exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The rally will take place outside the museum and will begin at 11:00 a.m., when the museum opens.
Catholic League president William Donohue expressed his views on the rally today:
“No one has ever said that Catholic-bashing artists do not have a constitutional right to insult our religion. What the Catholic League has been saying, and what Mayor Giuliani has been saying, is that no one has a constitutional lien on the public purse to finance bigotry. Our protest is directed at two elements of this exhibit: the use of public funds to bash Roman Catholicism and the anti-Catholic depiction of Our Blessed Mother by Chris Ofili.
“No teacher who bashed his black, Jewish, or gay students could ever argue persuasively that he was engaged in free speech. Indeed, he would be summarily fired for promoting hate speech. Similarly, any artist whose work is being publicly funded cannot hide behind the First Amendment when he promotes hate speech.
“We hope that New Yorkers of all religions will join us in our protest on Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Since the museum expressly warns that seeing the exhibit could induce vomiting, we will distribute vomit bags to the first 500 attendees.
“We are especially grateful to the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization for their support on this matter.”
