Hillary Clinton says she herself wouldn't want to see an image of the Virgin Mary embellished with elephant dung and porn images, but that doesn't mean New York City should yank city funds from the Brooklyn Museum for showing it.
The First Lady spoke outside a Harlem school Tuesday morning to say the museum has every right to show the controversial portrait - meaning, among other things, a break with the man who might well be her opponent in next year's Senate race, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Giuliani has threatened to cut $7 million in city funds if the portrait is allowed to stay on display. The show, "Sensation: Young British Artists From The Saatchi Collection," is scheduled to premiere Saturday, Oct. 2.
The painting, ``The Holy Virgin Mary,'' depicts Mary with dark skin, African features and flowing robes. It features a shellacked clump of elephant dung and two dozen cutouts of buttocks from pornographic magazines.
The artist, 30-year-old Chris Ofili, won the British Turner Prize last year. He says he chose the porn images because classical images of the Virgin Mary are usually sexually charged. Ofili is himself a Roman Catholic.
Giuliani's stance has been backed by John Cardinal O'Connor but tweaked by the New York Civil Liberties Union, whose director Norman Siegel says the funding threat violates the First Amendment. "(A)ssert(ing) that New York City can withdraw all funds for the museum based on a single exhibition that he finds offensive illustrates a serious misunderstanding of the Constitution," Siegel tells the Associated Press.
Siegel is said to be organizing a rally Friday in support of the exhibit. The AP says that while Brooklyn Museum director Arnold Lehman has a reputation for standing firm on artistic expression, directors of other museums have been "noticeably silent".
