150 Protest as Mapplethorpe Photos Obscenity Trial Opens

About 150 people demonstrated for freedom of expression Monday outside a courthouse where an art gallery and its director went on trial for showing Robert Mapplethorpe’s sexually graphic photographs.

About 50 police officers patrolled on foot, horseback and motorcycles outside the Hamilton County Municipal Court, where a jury was being selected for the misdemeanor obscenity trial of the Contemporary Arts Center and its director, Dennis Barrie.

In addition to rallying at the courthouse, the protesters, organized by a gay rights group, walked 10 blocks through downtown. Some people lay in the street, briefly halting traffic. No one was arrested.

At the beginning of the trial, Municipal Judge David Albanese denied a motion that potential jurors be limited to Cincinnati residents. Because of the structure of the Hamilton County Municipal Court, the jury pool is drawn from residents of Cincinnati and its suburbs.

The judge also denied a motion to increase the number of peremptory challenges allowed. Defense attorneys said that, because of publicity about the case, more than the usual number of potential jurors would have to be disqualified.

The case has become a rallying point for artists, First Amendment activists and people who believe the indictments are part of a wider effort to intimidate homosexuals.