There are many worthy causes out there – human rights, rainforest preservation, rights of the disabled – yet none are quite as worthy as preserving the innocence of impressionable college students. Amidst the nights of studying and candy pong, the last thing these kids need is another piece of darned gay propaganda in their curriculum. Enter South Carolina and the spanking sent swiftly to the spending plans of two universities.
College of Charleston and University of South Carolina dared defy “morality” when they assigned reading materials focused on gay characters. College of Charleston assigned Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home -- a morbid coming out tale -- to its incoming freshmen last summer and may now lose $52,000 a year thanks to a tentatively approved House budget plan. This same plan would cut $17,142 from University of South Carolina’s budget for assigning Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio, which is about the first gay radio show, to freshmen. Conservatives whined, and Representative Garry Smith took action:
"I understand diversity and academic freedom," he claimed. "This is purely promotion of a lifestyle with no academic debate."
Never mind the fact that Fun Home is a comic book. Every English major knows that an intellectual comic book is an excellent change of pace after being subjected to the intellectual masturbationists like James Joyce (f*ck that guy -- sorry I’m not sorry). Oh, and, as someone who also read Fun Home in college, the protagonist's dysfunctional relationship with her abusive father (who ran a funeral home, BTW) was far more memorable than the cunning linguist scenes. And Out Loud may be about the first gay radio show, but there’s more to it than that – empowerment and community, anyone?
Point is: there’s more to these books than “promoting the gay lifestyle.” Of course, not everyone agrees.
Republican representative Jim Merrill admitted that he liked the concept, but overall it was “kind of stupid.”
Alas, no one said it better than Democrat Representative Gilda Hobb-Hunter: “Do you think for one minute some companies are going to look seriously at us, when they think about their workforce coming to a state like this, with members of a Legislature who believe their job is to pass judgment on colleges of higher learning to dictate what books people are going to read?”
Sheesh, remember the days when you thought all politicians were competent?
Image: The total opposite of college students
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8144/7666317950_9af3aff2e6.jpg
