The argument that Brooklyn has violated its charter by not being completely
open to the public is a cheap lawyer's defense of a lost cause if I've ever
heard one.  The museum is larger than the exhibition and remains open to
all who wish to enter.  By restricting one potentially offensive area to
minors is a reasonable measure to take and gives all the public the ability
to choose.  (Though actually, this was probably as much a marketing
technique by Brooklyn as is a PG-13 movie rating).

The charter violation argument was created by hizzoner because he realized
that by maintaining the indecency argument he was backing himself into a
political corner with the far right--he certainly doesn't want that rap
come election day next year for he would certainly lose the Giuliani
democrats and other libertarian moderates.

The question of whether the exhibition should be protected by the 1st
amendment vs. whether the government has discretion over funding it is a
more complex one.  But once granted, it is not to be rescinded because of
content.  If the government decides to fund culture and art in general, it
shouldn't discriminate on the grounds of its, or the majority's, tastes.
 There are many things funded by tax dollars that don't serve certain
segments of the taxpaying citizenry--I have never used the Staten Island
Ferry, but my money pays for it.  The subjects of the great majority of
portraits in the Metropolitan are Caucasians--should african-american tax
dollars not be used to support the institution because the imbalance is
surely insulting to some?  It is the duty of government to support programs
favored by the a minority interest, even if a few are offended.

Even if you believe that a majority's interest should be served in funding
the arts, how does that give Giuliani the right to single-handedly pull the
funding without any representative vote by the city council (who are the
ones responsible for annually restoring 100% of the city arts funding after
Rudy eliminates it entirely year after year of his tenure).

The best thing the Brooklyn can do now is to hold their ground and go on
the offensive against Rudy.  Make the desperate little man surround himself
with his ilk--Jesse Helms, Pat Buchanan and Tom Delay--for support and
he'll have no chance for the Senate seat. New York would love the fight and
rally to the museum's defense.

The museum community's silence on this issue is very disturbing and serves
as a contemporary parallel of the minimal revolutionary reaction by the
persecuted intellectuals during the early years of Nazism.

BTW, for those who enjoy a good laugh at hizzoner's expense, check out the
website http://www.yesrudy.com (a sabotaged send up of RG's taxpayer
supported offensive reelection propaganda located at www.rudyyes.com).

Michael Bernstein
New York Foundation for the Arts

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