A university in Texas is being prevented from performing a show that has been deemed too racy by both the lieutenant governor and the school’s president. What century are we living in again?
In Monday’s NYT Arts section, it was reported that a Tartleton State University class production of “Corpus Christi,” a play written by Terrence McNally in 1988, which portrays Jesus as gay, which was set to be performed this past weekend, was canceled due to the controversy it stirred up. Initially, the school’s president defended the students’ right to put on the show, despite it being “offensive, crude and irreverent,” but the Austin Star-Ledger reported that the administration changed its mind after the school received multiple threatening messages. The school’s official reasons for its decision was because of “safety and security concerns for the students as well as the need to maintain an orderly academic encironment”, according to the Austin Chronicle.
Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst did not believe the production should be allowed to go up, saying “no one should have the right to use government funds or institutions to portray acts that are morally reprehensible to the vast majority of Americans,” speaking towards the play’s so-called sacreligious portrayal of Jesus as a homosexual.
The state government dictating what is morally acceptable for a directing class to perform at a university? School administration caving in because of adverse reactions to the staging of a controversial play? And who says that the majority of Americans find homosexuality “morally reprehensible”? This is a scary day for our nation indeed.
That pesky 1st/14th amendment!
Woah that’s crazy!