“Christians are coming under attack,” GOP State Rep. Jamie Thompson said on Facebook this week.
Thompson was responding to an “art” exhibit at Grand Valley State University’s Kirkhof Center in Allendale, a small town located about 15 minutes west of Grand Rapids, the second largest city in the state.
Founded in 1960, Grand Valley is known for its medical and business schools. Roughly 24,000 students are enrolled at the university. According to The Midwesterner, it received $99.82 million in taxpayer dollars for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Despite being located in an area that has historically voted Republican, Grand Valley, like countless other institutions of higher learning across the U.S., pushes many diversity and left-wing causes.
The current controversy stems from the school’s purchasing of an alumna’s “art” display included in an exhibit last year showcasing “LatinX” artists.
Thompson criticized the display on social media after a Catholic student at Grand Valley sent her photos of it.
“He feels as though his religious beliefs are being stomped on and thrown in his face, I agree with him,” she said.
The images in question are digitally modified depictions of the Our Lady of Guadalupe apparition, which Catholics venerate as a sacred image. The “art” includes phrases in Spanish spread across images of Our Lady that when translated to English mean “homophobia is lethal,” “no more feminicide,” and “sexuality,” among other vulgar and pro-LGBT terms, such as “trans.” What appears to be a gender-confused person as well as a man in underwear and two men kissing can also be seen on Our Lady’s dress.
In one image, the words “My son is homosexual” and “I am proud of him” appear on Our Lady’s face.
“By using iconic images, like that of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Beltran pushes back against the systems of power that have traditionally repressed marginalized people in Mexico, while asking the viewer to realize the injustices around them,” a description of the display on Grand Valley’s website claims.
The apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe – the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God – occurred in Mexico in 1531.
Before she appeared, pagan tribes in Latin America were offering human sacrifices to the sun often times by ripping people’s beating hearts out of their chests.
In the centuries following her appearance, millions of persons in Latin America converted to the Catholic faith, thereby ending the barbaric practice.
The display is 96 inches by 40 inches and is the work of Irlanda Beltran. It is titled Petalos De Cambio, or “Petals of Change.” Grand Valley’s Graphic Design department bestowed an award on Beltran for her creation last June. The school bought the display from her for a reported $1,800 dollars.
Local GOP State Rep. Luke Meerman spoke to LifeSite on the phone last week to share his own reaction to the situation.
“I support free speech,” he said, but “I don’t think it belongs on a college campus … it should come down.”
Meerman told LifeSite that students he has been speaking with have been successful in meeting with administrators and that the school is in the process of including them in future decisions about displays on campus.
CatholicVote.org has reported that Grand Valley’s Catholic Campus Ministry office learned about the display last September, and that several Catholic students asked administrators for it to be removed. Ultimately, Christopher Knape, the assistant vice president for the school’s communication department, defended the installation as “protected speech” that provokes “discussion and critical thinking.”
“We understand art can result in differing interpretations, sometimes creating discomfort,” he told CatholicVote. “At GVSU, we welcome diverse — sometimes opposing — viewpoints as part of our commitment to the First Amendment.”