Not art but “vulgarity and disrespect,” was the reaction from Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini to a European Parliament art exhibition.
Other MEPs rallied to his criticism of the photographic exhibition by Swedish artist Elizabeth Ohlson that included images suggesting a homosexual Christ surrounded by acolytes in leather clothing typically associated with bondage and fetishism.
“The European Parliament has become a space of impunity for the LGTBIQ+ lobby with the complicity of the leftwing, popular and liberal parties,” Spanish MEP Jorge Buxadé, a member of the VOX party who sits in the European Conservatives and Reformists group, remarked in a tweet:
El Parlamento europeo se ha convertido en una espacio de impunidad para el lobby LGTBIQ+ con la complicidad de izquierdas, populares y liberales.
Mi desprecio infinito al autor, a los promotores y a quienes lo han permitido. Asqueroso y miserable.
Mi deseo de que la próxima… pic.twitter.com/eRTNQmD4ds
— Jorge Buxadé (@Jorgebuxade) May 4, 2023
The exhibition that ran from May 2 to May 5 was sponsored by Swedish MEP Malin Björk who belongs to the Vänsterpartiet (Left Party) that sits in the Left group in the EU assembly. Her office did not answer inquiries from the Brussels Signal.
Ohlson said the images were meant to depict Christ supporting homosexual rights, according to the Catholic World Report.
“There [are] a lot of pictures of Jesus with heterosexual [people],” Ohlson said on Twitter. “Millions, billions of paintings, famous artists. But this [exhibition] is just 12 pictures of Jesus loving the LGBT rights, so 12 pictures should not be so scary for them.”
An exhibition at the EU Parliament featuring an LGBT Jesus (in the background) has sparked protests from MEPs who say it is ‘blasphemous and disrespectful’. Here is how the artist, Elisabeth Ohlson, responded to the critics. pic.twitter.com/1w7q8hZ0CG
— Pietro Guastamacchia (@ilpiotr) May 2, 2023
In a letter written by French MEP Jean-Paul Garraud to the Quaestor’s office—responsible for the running of such exhibitions—the politician from Rassemblement National, who sits in the Identity and Democracy group, argued that the exhibition contravened the European Parliament’s rules on cultural events.
“Cultural events and exhibitions may in no circumstances be insulting or provocative in nature or contradict the values on which the Union is founded or be likely to cause disturbance in the exhibition areas provided for. (Article 2, paragraph 3).”
He said the exhibition was not “artistic”, rather it “aims to spread political propaganda of hatred between communities, and promote the Woke ideology deconstructing everything that makes up our civilisation.”
In his written response to Garraud, Christophe Hansen from the Quaestor’s office explained that he gave his approval “after a careful examination of the works presented to me.” He highlighted that it was indicated to him that the artist “wanted to remind people that Jesus Christ worked with, and helped, the outcasts of society.”
He suggested that “in the light of this context, the works can be seen as neither insulting nor discriminatory, but rather to provoke a debate on certain societal issues.”
French MP Nicolas Bay, a former member of Rassemblement National, didn’t see it that way. He wrote to the president of the Parliament Roberta Metsola to ask for the withdrawal of the photographs, reports the French magazine L’Incorrect.
Fifty-five MEPs co-signed the letter, including French MEP François-Xavier Bellamy, the only representative for the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), the largest party in the EU parliament. The letter was praised by Eric Zemmour on Twitter:
Félicitations à @NicolasBay_, député européen de @Reconquete_off, pour cette initiative.
La coalition des droites que nous prônons se fera autour de la défense de notre civilisation. En voici un bel exemple ⤵️ https://t.co/zxv90bkhSm
— Eric Zemmour (@ZemmourEric) May 4, 2023
In his letter Bay argued that “some of the pictures carry an insulting message towards the Christian religion and Christ, which many believers could legitimately consider blasphemous.” He also said that the same liberty would not have been extended to an artist who caricatured Mohammed, the prophet of Islam. People have died in Europe for doing so, he noted.
In his letter to Garraud, Hansen noted that because two of the works on display were “not part of the pre-approved file” he requested they be removed but “the removal of the works was refused by the sponsoring Member of Parliament, despite a direct order from me.”
As a result, Hansen has initiated “internal procedure” to bring the “matter to the attention of the College of Quaestors.”
