Ten years ago during the height of the culture wars, the Contemporary Arts Center and Dennis Barrie, its director, were indicted for exhibiting a show of Robert Mapplethorpe paintings. The CAC (and Barrie) were later acquitted. But “the disheartening implication of the Cincinnati case is that even when you stand up to the bullies, you can’t win. Barrie and the CAC made their stand, and the First Amendment saw them through. But this is how the current—and real-life—leader of Cincinnati’s Citizens for Community Values evaluates the impact of that trial today: “The community at large learned that not everything is protected by the First Amendment.” – Village Voice