Man, I wish I had $3Mil to give to this school...

[Not Me]

Gay Cowboy Tale Causes Flap At Texas School

(Austin, Texas) The movie won the highest award at the Venice Film Festival and kudos at the Toronto International Film Festival and now the short story on which Brokeback Mountain is based is on the reading list at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Austin, but not without a fight that cost the school $3 million.

The story is of two cowboys who meet in Wyoming and fall in love. They split up and one marries. Then years later they are reunited.

The tale had some parents complaining to the school about the gay content of the book. But the biggest controversy centered around one family: the McNairs one of the biggest financial supporters of St. Andrew's.

The family had pledged $3 million to the school, and was demanding that the book be removed from the approved grade 12 reading list.
The school's board met, discussed the book with educators, and then told the family to keep their money.

More at http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/09/093005brokeback.htm

[ComerPerro]

1. I remember hearing about that movie a year or so ago

but haven't heard much since.

[MountainLaurel]

3. It's being released

In the next month or so. Here's the IMDB listing: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/.

[ComerPerro]

4. Thanks for posting it. Good cast!

[MountainLaurel]

2. Good on them

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[krkaufman]

5. "grade 12 reading list"

WTF..! Grade 12! Seniors!

It's not like they're requiring its reading by elementary school students. The McNairs are nutjob zealots.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Some adults think that 12th-graders are apple-cheeked children

who must be protected from the real world, especially its sexual aspects.

When I was a foreign language professor, I attended conferences with high school teachers who got into trouble for showing European movies that depicted the drinking of beer or wine or, in one case, a stop-motion animation cartoon about a sculptor that showed him putting breasts on a statue.

I don't think the Puritans were this bad. They drank ale as their normal mealtime beverage, after all.

[hobbit709]

6. I used to work with

one of the McNairs. He was a pompous, loud-mouthed bible thumper. In other words-a good Republican.

[tonkatoy57]

8. Good for St. Andrew's

You don't see that too much these days. It's nice to see an institution weigh issues judiciously and decide, what the hell, we'll stick to our mission and our values.

I worked for many years with non-profit cultural institutions and saw far too many times an organization sell out to major donors. If Mr. & Mrs. Gotrocks didn't like the contemporary music on the program the next thing you knew it's all Beethoven and the music director is packing his bags. If Mrs. Marriedwell was offended by a contemporary art exhibition, she would threaten to withhold her annual gift and there you go, nothing intellectually challenging would ever darken the doors of the art museum.

Good for St. Andrew's School.

[Dinger]

9. Wow!!!!!!!!!

That's beautiful!:)