"It's sad and absurd"
March 2, 2014 2:41 PM   Subscribe

Members of the South Carolina House of Representatives voted to cut $52,000 in funding to the College of Charleston after Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel, was assigned as summer reading. Representative Garry Smith accused the College of Charleston of “promoting the gay and lesbian lifestyle”.

More than $17,000 was also cut from the budget of the University of South Carolina Upstate for the similar selection of Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio, a book about South Carolina’s first gay and lesbian radio show. The budget-writing committee voted to remove the funds from both colleges, but the possibility exists that the money could be put back when the entire House of Representatives reviews the budget on March 10.
posted by kyrademon (13 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Between this being predictable those-people-did-that-thing and it not actually being finalized, this is probably better off going away until it gets nailed down. -- restless_nomad



 
Why don't we just teach our children not to think at all? Holy cow. The real story here is that these legislators will never be voted out of office.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:46 PM on March 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


Colleges should only be assigning the Bible and ''Little House on the Prairie''.
posted by goethean at 2:48 PM on March 2, 2014


The book is about a heavily closeted dad who walks in front of a bus and is strongly implied to have committed suicide. I'm sold! Where do I sign up for the conversion therapy?
posted by benzenedream at 2:48 PM on March 2, 2014 [4 favorites]


South Carolina: if my family still didn't live there and never plan to leave, I'd never go back. (Except maybe Charleston. I have a soft spot for Charleston.)
posted by Kitteh at 2:50 PM on March 2, 2014


Hey, now, Little House on the Prairie was partially conceived and edited by a rumored lesbian.

This fails the Bechdel test on every level. Fuck these guys.
posted by mynameisluka at 2:50 PM on March 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


This is like hitting all the buttons on my liberal outrage control panel. Also, that nytimes review is awful

"Then there are the actual words. Generally this is where graphic narratives stumble. Very few cartoonists can also write — or, if they can, they manage only to hit a few familiar notes. But "Fun Home" quietly succeeds in telling a story, not only through well-crafted images but through words that are equally revealing and well chosen. Big words, too! "

Is it too early to be drunk on a sunday? no.
posted by hellojed at 2:52 PM on March 2, 2014 [5 favorites]


I can't stand how big government is always prying into people's lives.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:53 PM on March 2, 2014 [5 favorites]


I swear to God, it's like whoever runs the GOP really wants to ensure that nobody born after 1990 ever votes for them ever again. It's like they sat in a smoke-filled room somewhere and debated "how is the best way to make sure the youngsters know that we are really, really devoted to hating them and/or their friends?"
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 3:06 PM on March 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


Representative Garry Smith accused the College of Charleston of “promoting the gay and lesbian lifestyle”.

How much you want to bet that this guy is one who would kick and scream about "academic freedom" if he perceived it to be under attack from, oh, people promoting that agenda?
posted by rtha at 3:07 PM on March 2, 2014


You guys may not realize this, but the way you become gay is by reading about it in college. If you can just prevent people from encountering the wrong books in those all-important college years, when they're REALLY locking down their choice of sexual preferences, it won't occur to anyone to be gay.

Gay people know this. They're afraid they'll be left with no one to have sex with--all the college kids will read straight books, and gayness will die out. That's why they do these promotions. It's like when somebody who works in the cookie store stands outside with a plate of free cookies--only instead of cookies, they're giving away free gayness, to get people to come into the store.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 3:08 PM on March 2, 2014 [11 favorites]


Meanwhile, College of Charleston president P. George Benson has issued a statement saying that, "Any legislative attempt to tie institutional funding to what books are taught, or who teaches them, threatens the credibility and reputation of all South Carolina public universities."

Meanwhile, the college told the SC House to go fuck themselves. Good for them.

Since both colleges have online donation links, it would delight me to see the media coverage result in both programs being funded far beyond what was cut. Preferably with the college providing a list of books to Rep. Garry Smith and specifically purchasing the books he crosses off the list.
posted by delfin at 3:08 PM on March 2, 2014 [8 favorites]


You guys may not realize this, but the way you become gay is by reading about it in college.

I know you're being facetious but this is literally the way some people think.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:16 PM on March 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


College is where Bible don't work no more. Big Mama been crying every since.
posted by four panels at 3:18 PM on March 2, 2014 [3 favorites]


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