You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown? At Least You’re Not Gay?

Is this for real? I guess it is:

Corona del Mar High School’s principal Fal Asrani refused to pay the Rent, so now students will have to settle for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. In the on-going saga Queerty was the first to tell you about, the Orange County school canceled its originally planned spring musical because of Rent‘s portrayal of gay characters. Now drama teacher Ron Martin will now rehearse his cast for Clark Gesner’s musical comedy. Because Linus isn’t gay at all.

corona-del-mar-high-school

Ms. Asrani still stands by her word that she didn’t cancel the production of Rent over anything gay — and that it was Mr. Martin who called things off. This, coming from a principal who, during a meeting with Martin and a union rep, called off Rent because she needed to review the script’s inclusions of “prostitution and homosexuality,” says Martin, even though there’s nothing about hooking in Rent. (This was also the first time Asrani asked to review a script in Martin’s five years of working at the school, Martin says. It’s common practice for a principal to review scripts for student productions.)

Moreover, it seems Asrani isn’t the only higher-up who’s out of touch. Dana Black, president of the Newport-Mesa Board of Education, says the school district has no problem with edgy material, but “we don’t want anybody feeling alienated.” Well, Ms. Black, you just did some alienating: all of your gay students now feel less than equal.

Is it just me or is Newport-Mesa on its way to becoming the new Capo? Let’s just hope that “we don’t want anybody feeling alienated” doesn’t now mean banning all reference to “teh gay” (so that bigots don’t feel “alienated”) and teaching religious dogma in science class (so that “believers” don’t feel “alienated”). Wow. And liberals keep getting blamed for the sorry state of education today?

2 Comments

  1. Clearly, Asrani doesn’t get it.

    “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” is just as gay as “Rent.”

    (But not as gay as Orange County’s great attraction, Disneyland.)

    On the other hand, if Asrani is looking for a non-gay high school musical — good luck!

  2. Michael-

    Hence the question marks in my title. Still, the CDM High admin look ridiculous for their kabuki dance. (“Oh, we don’t want to alienate anyone… Just those silly queers who think they have issues just like ours!”) It’s a massive disservice to the CDM students that they can’t put together a drama production without enduring all this unnecessary drama outside the classroom.

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