ACLU Settles With O.C. School District

This spring I blogged extensively on Corona del Mar High School's censorship of the musical RENT. As it turned out, it wasn't just musicals they were censoring - there was an atmosphere of hate and fear throughout the school.

The ACLU went after the district for failing to protect a young girl from violent threats. They finally put the school district on the defensive. From yesterday's LA Times:

An Orange County school district where varsity athletes threatened to rape and kill the lead actress in a student production of the musical "Rent" has agreed to provide harassment and discrimination prevention training to Corona del Mar High School students, teachers and administrators and other district officials, according to a legal settlement announced Wednesday. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District will also apologize to the former student.

I wish they'd have been able to fire their Principal, Fal Asrani, who seemed completely uninterested in protecting her students. Fal herself is one of the bigots that needs discrimination prevention training.

Update: Fal Asrani has been replaced as principal.

Fred Phelps Protests RENT At High School

I've written pretty extensively on Corona del Mar High School's struggle to perform the musical RENT. First, they had to convince their bigoted Principal Fal Asrani to even allow a production of the heavily-edited school edition. Now, they've had to deal with famed bigot-nutcase Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church, who flew across the country to protest the show.

The picture above is a church-member in front of the high-school with a bunch of amazingly nutty signs and below is text from the flyer they distributed to their congregation.

The Westboro Baptist Church protest flyer states: “Those who enable fag filth by such projects as Rent are also worthy of death (hell). (Ro. 1:32.) God Hates Fags and Fag-Enablers; Ergo, God Hates Corona del Mar High School!”

Dealing with such crazies can be difficult, but the students handled the protest perfectly, launching a 'Silent Counter Protest' along with other local peace organizations. I applaud them for their continued courage in the face of hate.

Here are some pictures from their successful protest, which outnumbered the bigots many times over.

I love the "God Hates Signs" sign.

ACLU Sues Bigoted Anti-RENT School

I've been waiting for this to happen - The ACLU is suing Corona del Mar High School, home of bigot principal Fal Asrani, over their failure to protect gay students.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in state Superior Court contending that an Orange County high school allowed a hostile environment to develop against gay and female students there, citing the brief cancellation of a school production of the musical “Rent” as one piece of evidence. The lawsuit, which argues that state and federal equal protection laws were violated, was filed on behalf of a female student at Corona del Mar High School who was said to be a target of rape and death threats by male students. It contends that sexist and homophobic comments are common at the school and that school officials have done little in response. The school drama teacher, Ron Martin, said last month that the school’s principal, Fal Asrani, had canceled the “Rent” production; Ms. Asrani said that was not true, and later she approved the production. A spokeswoman for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District said that she had no immediate comment, but that one would be forthcoming.

I first reported details of the school's "hostile environment" on Feb. 19th.

Rent Will Perform At Calif. High School, A Web 2.0 Victory

RENT, the Pulitzer Prize winning musical, will perform at Corona del Mar High School beginning April 23rd. The production follows an attempt by Principal Fal Asrani to cancel the musical because of "homosexual" content. Last week, she replaced RENT with You're A Good Man Charlie Brown as the school's spring musical.

Web 2.0 Powered Victory

The performance is a victory for the students and their drama teacher, Ronald Martin, who stood against the administration's decision. A victory won by their persistence and new media, specifically blogs and Facebook.

On Feb. 13th Queerty ran a story about an e-mail they had received from a reader. It was written by an anonymous student, who detailed the circumstances of RENT's cancellation. Two days later the story had spread to sites from The Huffington Post to the New York Time's Arts Blog.

While the story was went viral, the students organized. They created a Facebook group, Save Rent,which now has 441 members, and began (along with parents) to contact media.

"The immediacy the internet provides was key in this victory," Cindy Fulton, of Berkeley, a Corona del Mar High School alumnus, said today. "In the past we might have been writing letters to newspaper editors. You send it in, it gets reviewed, it gets published... maybe a week later." She says that the Internet made the difference, "In this case the internet allowed us to get right in there and work to change situation. We were able to be involved in it rather than react to it."

By the time the story was reported in The New York Times, Asrani was feeling the pressure. Martin, the drama teacher, resubmitted the script to her for written approval. She approved on Thursday.

James Ramsey, Co-Administrator of the Save Rent Facebook group, sent a message to the group, "We could not have achieved this without the support from all of you. It is amazing that we were able to do this in such a short amount of time, and everyone helped."

Principal Vs. Teacher

The LA Times Reports:

What transpired in the original meeting between Martin and Asrani is a matter of dispute between the two.

Martin said that Asrani questioned the portrayal of homosexuality and prostitution in the play -- although he said there is no prostitution in the toned-down school edition of the production -- and requested a copy of the script. He told Asrani that he did not have a script at the time and that there would not be enough time for her to review it and to obtain clearance from the licensing company. Asrani then opted to cancel the show, Martin said.

Asrani claimed she just wanted to read it.

As I first reported, there has been an atmosphere of hate in the school, ignored and even occasionally enabled by Asrani.

Many students don't believe Principal Asrani and expect there is more to the story that she isn't telling. "Even with the victory of getting RENT approved, the next battle is bringing justice to the comments exchanged in the meeting," one student told me today. Several other students and parents suggested Asrani's troubles may not be over.

Looking Forward

Regardless of what happens to Asrani, the students have won a big victory and many are looking forward to how RENT can benefit their school.

"I am ecstatic that we will be able to perform the show," says Ryan Willison, member of the school's Human Relation Council. His group is planning to integrate RENT into their club's campaign, Stand Up, Speak Out, Act Now, which emphasizes the student's voice. He continues, "Now that RENT has gotten so much attention, we want to use that publicity in a positive light and advocate for acceptance of the gay community at CdM. We are thankful that we don't have to fight for our rights in a media struggle anymore, and that we can advocate in a more positive, constructive way. Regardless of whether Mr. Martin or Mrs. Asrani is telling the truth, or some combination of the two, we are all excited to move forward."

And move forward they will, newly formed activists.

Odds & Ends

-- Barack Obama hit a home run last night, with his hugely successful Joint Address to Congress. (Can I just call it a State of the Union?) He made promises from ending the war in Iraq, to major health care reform. Ezra has details on health care reform from the budget. What a difference it is having a President who knows how to communicate.

-- We'll know tomorrow if the California high school will get to perform RENT. The bigot Principal, Fal Asrani, is making her final decision after actually reading the script. It's amazing how a week of terrible press can make you reconsider decisions, huh Fal?

-- Conservative David Brooks thought Jindal was more of a disaster than I did.

-- The deal with honor killings.

-- Nobody likes New York Governor Paterson.

Night Owl / Early Morning Odds & Ends

I'm back from flu land. My temperature is gone and I was finally able to do something outside the house besides rehearsal. I hung with my new friend Quinto, after my dinner at the IU-staple Mother Bears, and we watched the first three episodes of Rupal's new Logo Series Drag Race. It's a drag version of America's Next Top Model, that I sorta loved. It wouldn't work without Ru Paul, but with her it really works.

Rehearsal went great tonight, we're finally getting the chance to polish some of the dances. Today we worked on D-Gates, a song where Muffin (yes, Muffin) and Mike meet and fall for each other outside an airport. In this photo, Eric Anderson Jr. is at the piano, Aly Bloom is in front, and the two-Ms are Jen Saltiel and Justin Klein.

Vote in Bloomington tickets went on sale yesterday and we perform the weekend of March 6th-8th.

The News:

-- The NY Times has a major feature on the RENT California drama. Mr. Martin, the school's amazing drama instructor, describes in some detail his initial conversation with the bigot principal.

He said his principal, Fal Asrani, had objected to the show because of its treatment of “prostitution and homosexuality.” “When I heard that, I stopped her and looked her in the eye and said, ‘First, there is no prostitution in ‘Rent,’ and second, homosexuality is not wrong,’ ” Mr. Martin said. “She made no comment. It was the most demoralizing, disappointing moment in my career as a teacher.”

-- Kathleen Sebelius will make a great HHS Secretary. But, what is Howard Dean gonna do?

-- Obama has a 67% approval rating in the latest AP Poll. The Republicans in Congress are at 33%.

-- I agree with Andrew Sullivan, Obama should give Arnold a job when he leaves office. Arnold should become Obama's top Republican ally.

-- Republican Chairmen Michael Steele is out of his mind.

Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele plans an “off the hook” public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party’s principles to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”

The RNC’s first black chairman will “surprise everyone” when updating the party’s image using the Internet and advertisements on radio, on television and in print, he told The Washington Times.

-- Al Franken will soon finally be a Senator. 59 Democrats. Obama will just need a single GOP vote to pass legislation.

RENT May Go On At Calif. School

I just received confirmation that Ronald Martin, the hero drama teacher at Corona del Mar High School, is putting a copy of the RENT script on bigoted principal Fal Asrani's desk on Monday. He is still pushing to do the show, with the full support of the parents of every cast member.

Asrani will have to read the script, and reply in writing as to her objections. She'll no longer be able to lie to the media about the reasons for not wanting to do the show.

I spoke to a parent of a cast member on the phone tonight, who said that she was feeling very optimistic about her child getting to perform in the show. Apparently the Anti-Defamation League is now involved.

To catch up on this story, read my first and second pieces.

Atmosphere Of Hate In Rent-Canceling High School

Fal Asrani, the principal of Corona del Mar High School who canceled their production of RENT due to homosexual content, has been known to show tolerance toward overtly violent anti-gay hate speech. In January three senior boys posted a public Facebook video calling for the rape and murder of a lesbian student. The several minute long video is especially shocking for the humor the boys find in their threats.

The horrified parents of the girl quickly notified the school's administration of the video and were deeply troubled at their response. The boys were suspended for five days. Earlier in the school year, these boys were suspended for two months for “streaking.” Apparently Asrani believes that seeing someone's bare butt is vastly worse than threats of murder and rape. Go figure.

The girl's parents sent an e-mail to Asrani expressing their regret at RENT's cancellation:

...your administration has sent a clear message that threatening sexual violence is a minor offense punishable by 5 days of suspension (though "streaking" is punishable by two months of suspension); that "gay bashing" (as was depicted throughout the Facebook video) is also merely a minor infraction and one that the school will not acknowledge (and thereby tacitly endorses); and that any attempt by the school community to address these issues in a positive and thoughtful way--a way that would encourage dialogue and understanding (i.e. producing a play like RENT), will be soundly squashed. The gay students who daily brave CDMHS, along with the young women who endure all forms of sexual harassment while you look the other way, deserve more from their school's administration.

Ronald Martin, the school's drama teacher, wrote me, “I knew that there was an increase in hate language and I wanted to do something before it got too far out of hand.” He had a meeting with the parents of everyone in the cast and they agreed to let their children perform.

Asrani now wants the students to perform You're A Good Man Charlie Brown instead of RENT. But, the members of the RENT cast that I've been in contact with haven't given up yet. They intend to push the issue, as they should.

Join the SAVE RENT group on Facebook.

(Correction- The girl in the video that the three boys suggest should be raped and murdered is not actually a lesbian. She is very involved in the drama program and has many gay friends. Several of whom the boys mock in the video.)

The Hill: Killing RENT - Behind the Times and Beyond the Pale

Fal Asrani, the principal of Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, Calif., either doesn't like gay people or is an extremely slow reader.

The school was scheduled to perform “Rent,” a Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning rock musical (and, arguably, the only culturally relevant musical produced on Broadway in the ’90s), as its spring show. Asrani, apparently a huge fan of censorship, wanted approval over the script — already gutted for the high school edition — but needed more than a month to review.

Even so, she had already made her decision on the show, according to drama instructor Ron Martin — "she had already told me that she would not let it proceed because of the homosexuality in it."

Asrani has begun backpedaling, claiming that Martin canceled the show himself and that gay people deserve the same respect as straight people. But her actions clearly reflect her bigotry and ignorance. “Rent” is an important show, and the students should be exposed to its universal themes of love, friendship and tolerance. Asrani, for her part, needs to see this show more than anyone in California.

“Rent” was a huge part of my high school experience; I went to see a national tour in Washington with a local public high school in Maryland in 1998. That was 11 years ago. Just how behind the times in Asrani? A pretty pathetic story — and one you'd expect out of Alabama, not California.

Originally posted on The Hill.