Opinion: A Thousand Words: Art, Sexuality and the Army Clash Over LGBTQ Rights

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Wester petitioned the board to have his photographs exhibited; however, they were curated into a group exhibition. It also misidentified Andrew, introduced in the 5th paragraph, as Wester. The corrected article follows.

It all began when local artist Bradley Wester’s series of photographs of the military was curated into a group exhibition at the Bristol Art Museum. The board approved, and the installation was scheduled. However, for reasons best known to those on the inside, the board failed to review the images until two weeks before the unveiling, and when they did, they found the content to depict heterosexual military personnel kissing or posing in erotic underwear. Several members expressed misgivings over the content, some strongly. The board decided to cancel the show only to reinstate it again, before cancelling once more, eventually deciding to go ahead with the exhibition just days prior to opening. Two members of the board resigned, including the president, Jane Lavender, but they since have been reinstated.

In the end, the political musical chairs resulted in the loss of only  
one board member, Alison DeKleine, the sole member who advocated for the exhibition. I asked DeKleine how the affair affected the artistic  
community and Bristol Art Museum as a whole, and her responses are charged and uncompromising.

“Given the resulting backlash from the artists upon my removal, I would think that true arts advocates would not want to associate with or support an organization with such unprofessional overreactions to provocative art,” she explains, continuing, “I cannot say what’s next for BAM. I imagine they will continue to behave like a private art club providing the bare minimum of artistic exposure to the community.  It’s hard to exist as a  
reputable museum when you encourage the censorship of art. As for me, I will continue to advocate for the arts and support our thriving creative community.”

While the brew-ha-ha could be something out of a Mark Twain satire, the Bristol incident caused a significant social fracture that has raised more questions than it answered. At the forefront, jostling for poll position, are loud accusations of homophobia and injured cries of artistic censorship. Close behind are the fingers pointing at Wester, reproaching the artist for being intentionally divisive. And then there are those who would prefer to understand the full story without all the emotional fury, difficult though that may be.

Andrew is an Army veteran from Cranston. Like many other members of the LGBTQ community, Andrew served his nation, and the impact the armed forces had on Andrew’s life and identity remains very much intact today. For him, the controversy on the shores of Mount Hope Bay is just feather ruffling.

“It’s their fault for not checking the exhibit when they should have,” Andrew exclaims on a wet Tuesday morning in south PVD. “It would have prevented their straight, cis panic.”

But he isn’t unsympathetic, either. Bristol is well-known for its patriotic, classically Americana persona — rather than bigoted, just not ready for full submersion in a culture new to them. “Maybe it’s not their type of art to show,” he concedes. “Probably that’s why they reacted like that.”

When asked if he considered the incident to be homophobic, Andrew is equally balanced. “I can’t really tell if it’s homophobia,” he explains with a shrug. “This is just something straight society is not used to. They don’t want to hurt their image is what I get from it. Which is an unfortunate thing. This is how American society is.”

Andrew might have accepted it as the way it is, but the social changing of the guard is happening before our very eyes, and the unrest in Bristol is indicative of that shift in consciousness.

Like Andrew, Ryan, 29, from Coventry is also a US army veteran. For Ryan, the crux of the matter lies in the constitutional rights of free expression, regardless of sexual orientation or gender. For him, the definition of freedom very much follows the live and let live mantra of acceptance and consent.

“I’m more upset about the censorship than anything,” he explains. “It’s art, and art is a form of expression protected by the constitution. To me, that means that Wester has every right to display his art free of reprisal or censorship. Soldiers don’t fight for peoples’ specific view; we fight so people can have specific views.”

Powerful words, noble words. But are they accurate? Freedoms are only free within the parameters of the law, and down in the red baked earth of Georgia, a former Navy Lieutenant (Junior Grade) learned of a niggling legal matter that cannot be ignored. We spoke via text message, me in a parking lot in West Warwick, his location unknown at the time of print.

“No serviceman or servicewoman should be kissing in uniform, regardless of sexuality,” the source explains. “It’s about military rules. It’s not a discrimination issue. It’s a violation of uniform and military decorum.”

For this veteran, sexuality is irrelevant in the military. When in uniform, a serviceman or servicewoman has one role, and that is to represent the United States of America without personal bias. The individuals in the photographs should not be doing what they are doing in the first place. The law says so. Period.

Everyone understands what Wester was trying to achieve — provoke a visceral social reaction and make a statement in an era when that’s all that everyone wants to see or do. Rome, 2019 AD, Yawnsville. But if you set the theater of the modern and ancient worlds aside, the underlying message of Wester’s actions are important. Gender, sexuality and identity are fluid no matter where you are (even in the military … oh, the shock). This is the way it always has been and always will be. Non-binary sexuality has been around since the dawn of humanity.

And it’s okay to be heterosexual, too. Some people are simply attracted to the opposite gender. But others aren’t, and that’s what all of us have to get a grip on.

Note: Jane Lavender could not be reached for comment by press time. •
You can see the controversial work at the Bristol Art Museum, 10 Wardwell St, Bristol; gallery open Thu – Sun 1 – 4pm. Webster’s images are part of the “Dead Ringer” group show, thru Jul 14. bristolartmuseum.org