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.”

From Keith Olbermann’s surprisingly emotional take on gay marriage to the musical that made us laugh, 2008 was the year that gay news made good video.

Here are our picks for the gay videos that made the most impact this year.

As always, we welcome your additions in the comments.

1. Prop 8: The Musical!

This sly, star-studded response to Prop 8 – starring Jack Black as Jesus – made the economic case for gay marriage in such a funny, subversive way, you can’t help but sing along.

2. Keith Olbermann: Gay marriage is a question of love

Keith Olbermann stunned viewers with his six-minute rant on why the Prop 8 vote was wrong, saying, “Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option.”

Next page: Sally Kern…and Jon Stewart

The video was posted Wednesday on FunnyOrDie.com, the video site co-founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. The site has found a niche in getting professional talent to quickly create topical comedy videos.

“Prop 8: The Musical” may be a 3-minute Internet video, but it has a blockbuster cast – including Jack Black (who plays Jesus), Neil Patrick Harris, John C. Reilly, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Margaret Cho, Rashida Jones and others.

Though Jesus doesn’t bring the two sides together, Harris has better luck. He argues gay marriage could save the economy: “Every time a gay or lesbian finds love at the parade, there’s money to be made.”

The video was conceived and written by Marc Shaiman, the Tony Award-winning composer of “Hairspray” and “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.” McKay, who had previously collaborated with Shaiman on the song-and-dance routine Ferrell, Black and Reilly did at the Oscars earlier this year, sent him an e-mail floating the idea of a video.

Shaiman had been involved in a more serious debate over Proposition 8.

After voters approved Proposition 8, which changed the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage, it was revealed that Scott Eckern, the artistic director of the California Musical Theater in Sacramento (the state’s largest nonprofit musical theater company) had donated $1,000 to the “Yes on 8″ campaign.

Shaiman’s “Hairspray” had played at the theater and he said he would never allow anything he wrote to play there because of Eckern’s donation. Others protested and Eckern resigned in November.

In an interview Wednesday, Shaiman regretted that it came to Eckern losing his job and said: “It’s a tragedy for everyone involved. You’ll certainly see that no one called for him to resign.”

The video for Funny or Die was a lighter-hearted protest.

Shaiman wrote the piece in a day, recorded it the next and shot it in a single day last week.

“It was like, `Eureka! That’s right, that’s what I do!” said Shaiman of the mini-musical. “If I’m going to stand on the soap box, at least let me sing and dance.”