(Glocester, Rhode Island) A group of parents is calling a high school field trip a "promotion of homosexuality". The parents are threatening to pull their teenage children from a Ponaganset High School trip to see the movie "Rent" at a local theater.
"Rent", the film version of the long running Pulitzer and Tony-winning drama, is about a group of young New Yorkers coming to grips with poverty and AIDS features two gay couples.
Although rated PG-13, the parents say the movie is too controversial and adult for the grade 9 students.
"The lifestyles depicted in this movie are not the majority, not the lifestyles of 99.9 percent of the kids that live in these two towns," School Committee cochair Donna Mansolillo told a meeting of the committee this week.
Mansolillo then handed out a review of the film by the conservative group Focus on the Family that calls the movie "an in-your-face glorification of homosexuality and lesbianism."
Mansolillo's cochair, Gary King, agreed with her assessment saying there was no educational value to the movie.
"I'm not charged with the social education of students. I have to protect the integrity of students in our district." he said.
But another member of the committee disagreed.
"I just don't get what the problem is," Kelly Hunter said. "If you don't want your kid to go, don't sign the [permission] slip."
Hunter is the only member of the committee with a teen going on the trip.
Principal Joseph P. Maruszczak has refused to cancel the trip, saying that it will encourage classroom discussions about diversity and tolerance.
"Rent", the film version of the long running Pulitzer and Tony-winning drama, is about a group of young New Yorkers coming to grips with poverty and AIDS features two gay couples.
Although rated PG-13, the parents say the movie is too controversial and adult for the grade 9 students.
"The lifestyles depicted in this movie are not the majority, not the lifestyles of 99.9 percent of the kids that live in these two towns," School Committee cochair Donna Mansolillo told a meeting of the committee this week.
Mansolillo then handed out a review of the film by the conservative group Focus on the Family that calls the movie "an in-your-face glorification of homosexuality and lesbianism."
Mansolillo's cochair, Gary King, agreed with her assessment saying there was no educational value to the movie.
"I'm not charged with the social education of students. I have to protect the integrity of students in our district." he said.
But another member of the committee disagreed.
"I just don't get what the problem is," Kelly Hunter said. "If you don't want your kid to go, don't sign the [permission] slip."
Hunter is the only member of the committee with a teen going on the trip.
Principal Joseph P. Maruszczak has refused to cancel the trip, saying that it will encourage classroom discussions about diversity and tolerance.
That is such BULLSHIT! Oh man -- Like half the freaking rap lyrics they all listen to are better.
I am a HUGE RENT fan, and took my 11 & 15 year old daughters to see it.
They love it, so do I. It's about tolerance and acceptance.