Legal News

School officials not over the moon about "Rent" symptomatic of deeper issues, says ACLU

By Richard Binder

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California announced a suit against Newport-Mesa Unified School District and Corona del Mar school officials for allegedly breeding an atmosphere hostile to female and gay students, citing the brief cancellation of a school production of the musical "Rent" as evidence, among other instances.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a female student involved in the production of "Rent" at Corona del Mar who is said to be the target of rape and death threats by three male students. These kinds of sexist and homophobic slurs are common at the school, says the ACLU, and officials have done little to effectively address these issues.

The drama teacher at the school says he chose "Rent" as a way of combating the increasing number of homophobic comments heard on campus.  The production was eventually approved by the principal after a script was provided to her office, but the suit claims the cancellation of the show was evidence of biased attitudes on the part of the officials.

"Rent: School Edition" is scheduled to open at Corona del Mar on April 23rd.

Click these for details.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on March 18, 2009 (boomark / email).