David Funderburk: “here we go again. The NEA insists on offending American families. Freshman Republicans tried to eliminate taxpayer…”

“here we go again. The NEA insists on offending American families. Freshman Republicans tried to eliminate taxpayer funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, in part because taxpayers should not have to subsidize art which blatantly offends the religious beliefs and family values of most Americans. As Bob Dole puts it, most people know the difference between Mapplethorpe and Michelangelo. Now the NEA has crossed the lines again with a debut this Sunday of the ``Watermelon Woman'' film at the New York Lesbian and Gay Video and Film Festival. The film is described in the Washington Times as ``black lesbian quirky, steamy, and taxpayer funded.'' The Times goes on to quote Edmond Peterson, chairman of Project 21, an organization of conservative blacks, saying: ``This is a classic example of the Clinton administration being in bed with the gay-lesbian movement and funding a project through tax dollars that cannot get funded any other way.'' Mr. Speaker, it is a free country and people can make any kind of trash they want, but taxpayers should not have to pay for it. It is time we cut off funding for the NEA.”