The Smithsonian's Nov. 30 decision to remove an AIDS-related film from its National Portrait Gallery exhibition titled "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture" has provoked a month-long fury of controversy and accusations of censorship.

After one Washington Post writer called for the chief head to roll at the Smithsonian, another writer, Thomas Bower, offered up an opposing opinion on where to place the blame: "It was the arrival of the new Republican Huns and the threat of severe budget cuts by the presumed new speaker of the House that caused G. Wayne Clough, the secretary of the Smithsonian, to slightly diminish the “Hide/Seek” exhibition, featuring gay portraiture, at the National Portrait Gallery."

The Catholic League and conservative politicians had called for the museum to remove David Wojnarowicz's film that includes a brief scene of ants crawling on a crucifix as a reference to AIDS.

The work, titled "Fire in My Belly," is now being screened at DC's Transformer Gallery and is scheduled to go on view at other institutions across the nation. YouTube also hosts the 4-minute video.

The Andy Warhol Foundation, which provided funding for the exhibition, released a statement which ends: "It is sadly ironic that attempts to suppress Wojnarowicz’s work have led to its unprecedented exposure...The exhibition should not be overshadowed by the controversy it has generated, but neither should the importance of defending the First Amendment rights of artists be underplayed; it is necessary both to protect and to encourage the incisive, intelligent and innovative art of our time."