Smithsonian on Defensive | DC

Months after the complaints of two powerful legislators prompted cutting David Wojnarowicz's controversial religious-themed video from display at the Smithsonian, the controversy has not gone away and finally the Smithsonian is rising to its own defense.

Earlier this week, Wayne Clough, director of the National Portrait Gallery told the Associated Press he pulled the video because the controversy had overshadowed the exhibition and threatened to spiral beyond control into a debate on religious desecration.

On Thursday, he used the Internet, a Town Hall Los Angeles luncheon and a brief news conference to say he would make the same decision over again - but he would handle it better. Handling it better includes how he gets advice from his directors and consultants and getting public feedback. He told the AP:

"I respect and appreciate the opinions and advice they have shared with me, particularly with respect to how the Smithsonian communicates and consults on important issues. I am committed to improving these processes so that this Institution can meet the challenges of its public mission, including our role in educating about complex topics that involve social transitions or incorporate, in art or objects, cultural or religious symbols," he wrote on the Smithsonian's website.

The storm of controversey started after Clough received complaints from the Catholic League about "A Fire in My Belly," a video by the late David Wojnarowicz. The league called ants crawling on a crucifix sacrilegious, and Republican congressional leaders called for the closing of the show. The next day the video was pulled and since then protests have occured in the streets as well as denouncements by museum directors around the country. (See video artwork below)