My senior year at Marshfield High School was getting rolling and auditions for our drama club’s production of Lillian Hellman’s “The Children’s Hour” were scheduled for the afternoon.
We’d had a reading of the script and everyone was excited about it. It was about a private girls’ school where this nasty little girl decides to spread a rumor that two of her teachers are lesbians. Turns out one is and is actually in love with the one that isn’t.
[Spoiler Alert:] Drama ensues, lesbian teacher kills herself over the rumors and unrequited love in the end. That morning, the principal got on the loudspeaker and announced that the auditions were cancelled and that the drama club would be selecting a new play.
We were all confused and some of us marched down to the his office to find out what was up.
It seems the principal had heard from a few freshman parents that the play was all about lesbians and he decided it wasn’t appropriate. We hemmed and hawed, and the principal told us his decision was “final.”
So I marched over to the library (the librarian loved me and let me hang out in her office and use the phone if I wanted), and I called the ACLU.
The next morning, the officers of the drama club were called down to his office -– “I rented the movie last night and my real problem is that there’s a suicide, so just make sure that happens offstage and you can do the play.”
Dwight Probasco
Cuz ya know, we were thinking it might be fun to have someone shoot themselves center stage. Anyway… I was reminded of this story when I read this little morsel of bigotry straight out of Sarah Palin’s hometown.
Wasilla High School’s Symphonic Jazz Choir had been working on Freddie Mercury’s hit anthem “Bohemian Rhapsody” all year in preparation for a performance at the school’s graduation next month.
The song had been played at several school events
including the prom and (as is the case for several decades now), no one seemed to have a problem with it. Until now.
It seems Principal Dwight Probasco received some phone calls from some angry parents who deemed the song “inappropriate” because it was written by a gay man.
So, instead of realizing he was the principal of a high school which more than likely taught about Michelangelo, Alexander the Great, Socrates, Lord Byron, Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, Proust, Stein, Leonard Bernstein, Tennessee Williams, Andy Warhol, Leonardo Da Vinci, Melville, Tchaikovsky, Eleanor Roosevelt, Julius Caesar, Hans Christian Anderson, Aristotle, Noel Coward and Cole Porter, he decided to ban the song.
The students were naturally up in arms about this, having been practicing for some time. Choir member Casey Hight went so far as to contact a gay and lesbian organization in Anchorage for some help.
On Monday, reportedly due to fear of the ACLU, Probasco lifted the ban and is allowing an edited version of the song to be performed (to leave out the parts about killing).
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Filed under: Alaska, Views & Voices
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So hard to accept educators who acquiesce in the face of bigotry. Much like politicians who are elected to serve, educators are supposed to have the well-being and intellectual growth of their students front and center. Yielding to the narrow-minded views of a handful of bigoted parents truly sends the wrong message particularly when it comes to embracing the uniqueness and diversity in all of us.
IS IT JUST ME R DOES THIS FOOL RESEMBLE ELTON JOHN??
lmao… seriously?
Does this fool not remember that our community MADE culture?
& FASHION @ THAT.
are you kidding me?
They do not realize that Walt Whitman and Hughes are gay, so does that mean they have to ban too? This is censorship, this will never help, it will in fact only hurt them in the end.
Freddy would be turning in his grave at this kind of homophobic bull! And these idiots are teaching future generations! So help me God! Best of luck to the choir. I hope they kick ass (or am I not allowed say that cause it’s a bold word ;)
What????!!!
…really?!?!?!…
WHAT. RU SERIOUS. PEOPLE R TOO HOMOPHOBIC THESE DAYS
So much for visiting the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. A “gay” created it. . . Could go on and on and . . .What about Disneyland, World and cartoons. .
idiot. he is proally mad cause non of us guys want him.
This coming from a guy that looks like a bad 80′s lesbian, lol.
What an Asshole
It’s from Wasilla!!! What did you expect?!?!?
Oh for christ sake! These people need to pull their heads out of their asses!!
That’s such a good song!!!!
…lol Are you for real?
this is almost laughable…..almost.
And the winner of the Elton John look-alike contest is Principal Figgins…or whatever the Wasilla principal’s name is.
Shame Freddie is not around, he would write a fab “back at ya” song about a lonely hidden man with a “sad mad plan” … He has no talents and was just grabbing for his 5 mins of fame… If he taught S. Palin, that might explain a lot… God help the USA!!!!!
WHAT?!! Oh, crap. How do people this small minded earn positions in life so influential to our kids?
jerk
I am so sick and tired of homophobes.. get a life of your own you idiots!!
Dude looks like a broke ass Elton John…
THIS is a crock!!!!!
I really, really don’t want to engage in stereotypical thinking or off-the-cuff profiling, but looking at Principal Poop’s photo, I was just wondering what kind of self-loathing might have influenced him to make what to anyone of sound mind would have seemed a moronic decision, hmmmm?
Thats Bogus! :O Its Just A Song!
DUDE YES I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING!
He does look like John Elton. Why hasn’t someone thrown a brick through this guys window yet?
Ha! It’s funny ‘caus it’s true :-)
You can tell the man isn’t just a conservative. He’s simply ignorant. Who doesn’t know that the LGBT community has contributed to civilization? How about Alan Turing? Without him, we probably wouldn’t have won WWII.
How is it possible that he’s working in education? Oh, that’s right. AK/Wasila. They’re not about educating kids. They’re about manufacturing robots who will think, speak and act like fascists or neocons.
Bonus points for bringing up Turing. By the way, know if the crown has apologized to him yet?