fund what they believed were repulsive artistic works. In the 1992 Republican presidential primaries, presidential candidate Pat Buchanan cited Tongues Untied as an example of how President George H. W. Bush was investing "our tax dollars in pornographic and blasphemous art." Buchanan released an anti-Bush television advertisement for his campaign using re-edited clips from Tongues Untied. The ad was removed from television channels after Riggs successfully demonstrated Buchanan's copyright infringement. Reverend Donald E. Wildmon, the president of the American Family Association, opposed PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts for airing Tongues Untied but hoped that the film would be widely released because he believed most Americans would find it offensive. "This will be the first time millions of Americans will have an opportunity to see the kinds of things their tax money is being spent on," he said. "This is the first time there is no third party telling them what is going on; they can see for themselves." Riggs defended Tongues Untied for its ability to "shatter this nation's brutalizing silence on matters of sexual and racial difference." In his defense, Riggs claimed that "implicit in the much overworked rhetoric about "community standards" is the assumption of only one central community and only one overarching cultural standard to which television programming must necessarily appeal." Death Marlon Riggs died in his home on April 5, 1994. Tom Leonard, then acting dean of UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, stated that the cause of death was due to complications from AIDS. Popular culture Episode six of the second season of Pose ends with a quote by Riggs. Filmography as director Long Train Running: A History of the Oakland Blues (1981, short) Ethnic Notions (1986) Tongues Untied (1989) (later aired on POV in 1991) Affirmations (1990, short) Anthem (1991 short) Color Adjustment (1992) (later aired on POV in 1992) No Regret (1993, short) Boys' Shorts: The New Queer Cinema (1993, co-directed with Mark Christopher, Stephen Cummins, Laurie Lynd, Michael Mayson, and Chris Newby) Black is... Black Ain't (1994) References External links Marlon Riggs at the Video Data Bank Marlon Riggs Critical Resource Page at California Newsreel American documentary filmmakers African-American film directors 1957 births 1994 deaths Activists for African-American civil rights African-American artists Filmmakers from California Gay artists LGBT African Americans LGBT film directors American LGBT artists American LGBT rights activists LGBT people from Texas AIDS-related deaths in California Harvard