At last night’s New York Public Library forum on the Smithsonian exhibition, “Hide/Seek,” Smithsonian curator and SUNY-Buffalo professor Jonathan D. Katz said that gays and lesbians were “once again being offered as raw meat” to activists and the Catholic League. He also said of the Catholic League, and those who object to the video showing ants crawling all over the crucifix, “We have an American Taliban that we have not called as such.”
Responding is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:
Jonathan D. Katz is best known as the king of what is called “Queer Studies,” so it comes as no surprise that he views the world through these lenses. Not that it matters to him, but for the record, when I received a phone call at home the night of November 29 about the video, I did not know then—nor did I know the next day when I wrote a news release—that it was part of a larger gay and lesbian exhibition. All I knew was that the video was housed at the Smithsonian; I saw a clip of it online. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t go around deciding whether to object to Catholic bashing based on what people do in bed.
So I write a news release objecting to the video, asking the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to “reconsider federal funding” of the Smithsonian—knowing that 80 percent of Americans are Christian and 70 percent of the funds for the Smithsonian come from the federal government—and for this the Catholic League is labeled “the American Taliban.” Lucky for Katz we are not: the Taliban put homosexuals in human shredders and throw them off rooftops in Muslim-run nations. We issue press releases.
Katz represents the worst of the artistic community. These self-absorbed “artists” think they have an absolute right to the taxpayers’ pockets without any concomitant responsibilities. Not one of them comes even close to admitting that the vile video might just possibly offend Christians. Which is why their credibility is shot.
Contact Jonathan Katz: jonathandavidkatz@gmail.com
