Drama advisor Ron Martin tells the Los Angeles Times that principal Fal Asrani ordered him to drop “Rent” because of its gay characters.  Asrani disputes Martin’s claim.  She says she only asked to see the script.

“Rent” tells the story of a group of struggling artists in New York City, several of whom are gay.

Martin tells The Times that he chose the story to teach tolerance after hearing students use gay slurs.

“My responsibility as a drama teacher is to expose my students to a variety of different types of plays,” Martin told The Times.

He also said that he removed a portion of the script that showed a sex scene between two of the gay characters and that he discussed the production with Asrani before assigning it.

Further, he asserts that at a recent meeting with Martin and a representative from the teachers union, Asrani said the production could not go on and that she needed to review the script because of “prostitution and homosexuality.” There is no prostitution in the musical.

Asrani tells The Times she did not order the play cancelled and never received a copy of the script.

Dana Black, president of the Newport-Mesa Board of Education, said that the district does not shy away from edgy subject matter, and, “we don’t want anybody feeling alienated.”

In the meantime, Martin said he replaced “Rent” with “Charlie Brown” because it “is safe.”

Last week I went to see a production of Stupid Kids. You know, the John C. Russell play about four kids in a 1980s American high school that has been produced and re-produced over and over again in most major American cities since its premier in 1989. The play’s story is familiar, at least for me: a whole lot of angst in school bathrooms, falling in love with your best friend over and over again and not really understanding what is going on, writing bad poetry you contemplate showing the object of your affection only to tear it up and hide it under the bed.

The play really is cathartic. Trust me.

But what struck me about this production was the presence of four high school students in the cast. They had been added to throw a contemporary spin on the whole production. I was amazed at the opportunity these kids had. They were in high school, in a play about confronting one’s sexuality in high school. Now, there are some kids who are not troubled by the sometimes horrifying act of “coming out.”

Well, their compadres in Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach will have no such luck.

A sanitized version of Rent created for high school drama programs has been closed at the school because the principal was worried about the gay content. The general edit already took out all same-sex contact so the gay content Principal Asrani is worried about is the presence of gay characters.

Because this is a high school, free speech arguments are harder to make. And because this is a play that has already been switched out with “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown,” even a winning argument is unlikely to change things much for these students.

What saddens me is that these kinds of plays provide solace for so many kids who are struggling with their sexuality. It also helps their classmates understand what is happening to some of their friends and to sympathize with those brave enough and sorted out enough to come out early. These little things, high school plays, a lesson about Stonewall in history class, posters about gay friendly language in the halls, these are the things that actually reach the target audience and have a chance of curbing the alarming suicide rate amongst gay teens.

When I was in law school we participated in a mock court competition where the issue of gay straight alliances was in question. It was based on a landmark decision that had recently come out in favor of GSAs. But the news today illustrates that the question of support groups for gay students in high school is far from settled.

Florida, that lovely state that has been flip flopping on gay rights all year, houses Yulee High School. Yulee has banned the formation of a GSA and now the ACLU is suing on behalf of the students.

Many schools across the country have actually denied all non-academic clubs in order to legally prevent GSAs on campus (the logic is that if all types of a certain speech are banned it does not violate the Constitution – get rid of all social clubs and you get rid of the gays). But every once and a while a school slips up and allows a Christian club or a babysitters club to form. That triggers the constitutional right to set up your own GSA.

But the kinds of clubs do not settle the question.

Many administrators say that they are banning the GSA because gay kids in their school are harassed so mercilessly, gathering them all in one room would create a lightning point of contention and could risk the safety of gay students. The court gives deference to school administrators because they know the specific social circumstances of the school better than a judge in a different city or, in the case of the Supreme Court, a different part of the country altogether. This argument has convinced some lower courts that a GSA is just too risky at this point in history.

Thankfully, the Federal Court disagrees. It thinks that punishing a small group of students because of the intolerant actions of the masses is unconstitutional. Based on this logic, even if the whole school protested classes because of the GSA, the school administrators would be responsible for punishing each of their students before eliminating the gay club.

I think students who establish these alliances are incredibly brave. The courts have documented the kind of violence gay students face in small towns and conservative cities across America and has traditionally supported the students’ bravery.

Now if only we could get the administrators onside….

The Chicago Board of Education put off voting on the Social Justice High School—Pride Campus last month, following criticism by conservative religious groups that it was catering to “a special class” of students, and concerns by Mayor Richard Daley and some LGBT leaders that it would segregate gay students.

The new plan would see the school’s mission expanded to include all disenfranchised students and the name changed to Social Justice Solidarity High School.

The revised mission will be presented Wednesday to the Chicago Board of Education. If it is approved, it would open in 2010.

“While the school will be open to all students, its special mission will be to provide a haven where students can feel safe and valued for who they are,” the school’s new mission statement says.

“This school proposal went through a very rigorous community input process,” the group backing the school said in a media statement. The revised plan allows it to “[reach] the broadest base of support possible.”

The board put off a vote on the original plan after it was met by opposition by religious leaders and concerns from Mayor Daley.

“You have to look at whether or not you isolate and segregate children. A holistic approach has always been to have children of all different backgrounds– in schools,” Daley said in October, just before the board was to have voted.

The expanded mission is expected to win Daley’s approval.  It also has the support of one of the original plan’s biggest opponents – Rev. Wilfredo DeJesus of the New Life Covenant Church.

“I’m happy with the end result. All of the kids will win. We want to be sensitive to every child,” DeJesus told The Chicago Tribune.

But some LGBT community leaders are opposed.

“I think it’s frankly a caving in, and I think it’s unfortunate,” Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network, told The Tribune.

Last month, a national survey was released showing that nine in 10 LGBT teens have been verbally harassed in the past school year, and almost half have been physically harassed because of their sexual orientation.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s National School Climate Survey involved 6,209 LGBT students between the ages of 13 and 21 from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Students in schools with a Gay-Straight Alliance reported hearing fewer homophobic remarks, experienced less harassment and assault because of their sexual orientation and gender expression, the study found.  In addition, these students were more likely to report incidents of harassment and assault to school staff, were less likely to feel unsafe because of their sexual orientation or gender expression, were less likely to miss school because of safety concerns and reported a greater sense of belonging to their school community.

Nevertheless, the study found only about a third of students had a Gay-Straight Alliance at school. The same number of students could identify six or more supportive educators and only a fifth attended a school that had a comprehensive safe school policy.

The first all-gay high school in the US opened in New York City in 2003, named for murdered San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.

The mayor spoke out a day after the Chicago Board of Education put off voting on the Social Justice High School—Pride Campus.

Wednesday night, board members gave the OK to 13 other new schools, but put off a vote on the Pride Campus until Nov. 19. The vote to delay it came after two parents spoke out at the meeting against the school.

“Schools need to get out of the bedroom and back to the 3 R’s,” parent Kathy Reese, told the board. “This is why Johnny still can’t read, because the children are being used as pawns to further a political agenda. We should be helping them out of that lifestyle, not helping them into it.”

Although the school had broad gay support at earlier meetings, when the proposal was opened to public presentations, some members of the LGBT community expressed different concerns – saying they feared the school would isolate children and ill prepare them for the real world.

That also concerned the mayor, a longtime ally of the gay community.

“You have to look at whether or not you isolate and segregate children. A holistic approach has always been to have children of all different backgrounds - in schools. When you start isolating children and you say, ‘Only 50 percent here, 40 percent here’ – same thing we went through with the disabled - then you want to do that when they’re adults,” the Chicago Sun Times reported Daley as saying Thursday.

“It’s controversial. Some people are for it. Some are against it - The Board of Education has to make the decision whether it’s good for isolating children. I don’t know - I’m just saying that’s one of the problems - You start identifying them.”

The mayor’s opposition is seen as likely killing the proposal.

If it had been accepted, it would have had about 600 students with a 50-50 split of LGBT-straight students.

Earlier this month, a national survey was released showing that nine in 10 LGBT teens have been verbally harassed in the past school year, and almost half have been physically harassed because of their sexual orientation.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s National School Climate Survey involved 6,209 LGBT students between the ages of 13 and 21 from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Students in schools with a Gay-Straight Alliance reported hearing fewer homophobic remarks, experienced less harassment and assault because of their sexual orientation and gender expression, the study found.  In addition, these students were more likely to report incidents of harassment and assault to school staff, were less likely to feel unsafe because of their sexual orientation or gender expression, were less likely to miss school because of safety concerns and reported a greater sense of belonging to their school community.

Nevertheless, the study found only about a third of students had a Gay-Straight Alliance at school. The same number of students could identify six or more supportive educators and only a fifth attended a school that had a comprehensive safe school policy.

The first all-gay high school in the US opened in New York City in 2003, named for slain San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.

Triangle: Home

“Kids in classrooms need to be exposed to diversity, but creating a tolerant environment involves systematic change to the school system. This is going to take time. An LGBT high school is our bridge between the situation now and a better future for gay teens. I’d support it if it were in my district.”

There was a public hearing last night on whether an LGBT high school should be created in Chicago. As of today, the Chicago Schools CEO, Arne Duncan, is behind the move, but the LGBT community is deeply divided.

As a lawyer, I’ve been trained that separate but equal is a bad idea. As a person who remembers high school at all, how can I deny these kids the chance to escape?

Public schools in Chicago are a monstrosity. They barely make it out of the 35th percentile in national testing and they are de facto segregated in many districts.

As a gay teenager, especially one who fits any kind of visible stereotype, high school can be day after day of harassment, violence and isolation.

It is no wonder that one in three gay teens attempt suicide.

Legally, in American, we don’t allow “heckler’s vetoes”: where the majority of students harass someone for being different so we remove the victim rather than punishing the bullies.

It is a tradition started in the Vietnam war-era and has been essential to the protection of minority rights since. Recently, this legal principle has been used in many states to protect gay-straight alliances.

Undermining it now, will only hurt the LGBT community.

As well, tolerance of difference comes only through experience. If we take homophobic kids and tell them they don’t have to see gay students anymore, don’t have to change with them before gym class or have them in their small group sessions, how will they learn to accept those LGBT people when they grow up?

Similarly, how will gay kids, taken from the diversity of normal life, adjust to adulthood in a world where homophobia is ever present?

Still, there is no question that the public schools are not equipped to shut down the very real torture gay students endure from their classmates.

Because of the schools’ failures, many cities, including Toronto, New York and Milwaukee, have established special gay-friendly high schools.

They are often small, not the first choice for the majority of gay students, but they do have some openly gay teachers and social workers and encourage a separate safe environment for those teens that choose to escape.

As far as I’m concerned, this is one area where law and logic don’t apply.

We failed gay teens. As a country, we don’t protect them, we don’t provide them with adequate support systems in schools and they are often without that support at home.

If setting up a gay school will save even one kid from suicide, then it is the right choice.

It doesn’t let us off the hook. We must still promote diversity and tolerance in the classroom, if not for the gay kids that remain, then for the rest of the class that we, as a society, are responsible for. But taking steps to create safe environments now is necessary.

For all of us who escape disapproving parents, co-workers  and friends by heading to the local gay bar, strip or just spending time with people like us , we should step up and offer the same safe space for the most vulnerable members of our community.

”If you look at national studies, you see gay and lesbian students with high dropout rates … studies show they are disproportionately homeless,” the Chicago Tribune reported Duncan as saying. ”I think there is a niche there we need to fill.”

Called the Social Justice High School—Pride Campus, it would offer a core curriculum preparing students for college.

If the proposal gains final approval, the school would have about 600 students. A location for the school has not been found, but

Duncan said that will not be an issue. The earliest it could be up and running would be 2012.

Opponents of the school call it a misuse of public funds, and some LGBT rights advocates say that the school would segregate gay students by giving them a false sense of security.

On Wednesday a national survey was released showing that nine in ten LGBT teens have been verbally harassed in the past school year, and almost half have been physically harassed because of their sexual orientation.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s National School Climate Survey involved 6,209 LGBT students between the ages of 13 and 21 from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Students in schools with a Gay-Straight Alliance reported hearing fewer homophobic remarks, experienced less harassment and assault because of their sexual orientation and gender expression, the study found.  In addition, these students were more likely to report incidents of harassment and assault to school staff, were less likely to feel unsafe because of their sexual orientation or gender expression, were less likely to miss school because of safety concerns and reported a greater sense of belonging to their school community.

Nevertheless, the study found only about a third of students had a Gay-Straight Alliance at school. The same number of students could identify six or more supportive educators, and only a fifth attended a school that had a comprehensive safe school policy.

The first all-gay high school in the US opened in New York City in 2003, named for slain San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.