Pomo Afro Homos in Anchorage
- Artist/Author/Producer: Pomo Afro Homos
- Confronting Bodies: City officials and mayor
- Dates of action: 1993
- Location: Anchorage, Alaska
- Description of the Art Work
- "Fierce Love" is a series of 13 vignettes about the lives of gay black
men performed by the San Francisco-based performance art group Pomo Afro
Homos, which stands for "Postmodern Afro-American Homosexuals." The bus
advertisements for "Fierce Love" feature only the troupe's name, the
show's title, the theatre's name and phone number, and a picture of a
bespectacled man's eyes.
- Description of incident
- Having invited Pomo Afro Homos to perform "Fierce Love" for two nights at
the theater, Out North officials submitted advertising to the city
Transit Department, which administers an advertising program in
conjunction with the bus system. The Transit Department's advertising
policy seeks to "ensure good taste in advertising" and prohibits the
display of advertising relating to "tobacco products, alcoholic
beverages, any use of obscenities, and any reference to sexual or
adults-only material." Transit Department Director Dan Titus requested
additional information about the performance form Out North Theater after
being alerted to the contents of the ad by the advertising agency
handling the ads, which claimed that advertising Pomo Afro Homos'
performance may counter the transit department's advertising content
restrictions. Though Out North Managing Director Jay Brause sent Titus
three positive reviews of "Fierce Love," Titus rejected the ad, claiming
that it promoted "adults-only material." Titus' decision was supported
by Anchorage Mayor Tom Fink.
- Results of incident
- Months later, Mayor Fink sent a veto memo to the Anchorage Assembly
proposing to cancel Out North's municipal grant. Fink said, "[I don't]
think there's any question that the public does not approve of spending
money for a theater which encompasses homosexual themes." The Assembly
voted unanimously to reject the mayor's proposal.
Source: Artistic Freedom Under Attack, 1994
