After Protest, School Allows Display of Lesbian Art

Responding to objections from gay and lesbian rights groups, administrators at Orange County High School of the Arts reversed a decision and Friday allowed a student to exhibit her painting of two nude women embracing.

The semiabstract painting, by student Letitia Houston, was displayed at a senior class art show held at Rancho Santiago College, where gay and lesbian rights activists and others gathered at the college gallery to voice opposition to what they called censorship and discrimination.

Houston, 18, has said the painting and an accompanying statement are meant to address her lesbianism. The 5-by-6-foot work depicts two women, one clutching the other around the shoulders.

“To demonstrate our support of the student’s right to self-expression, we are including the work in the show,” said Ralph Opacic, the school’s executive director.

Opacic said officials had initially disqualified the painting because it was “turned in late, unfinished and with a last-minute change in the agreed-upon subject content.”