 Scene from ‘Brokeback Mountain’ |
An English teacher in Kentucky is under investigation for showing her students a clip of “Brokeback Mountain,” the controversial film about a homosexual relationship between two sheepherders.
The brief showing – about two and a half minutes long – took place at Boyd County High School, where tensions have been high since a group of students petitioned to form a homosexual awareness club at the school in 2002, the Associated Press reported.
The school district later settled a lawsuit that resulted in anti-harassment training for all staff and students.
Parent Kelley Smith, whose 17-year-old son was in the senior cinematography class, said it’s “really bad time for all this to have happened.”
“If she wanted to show it in class she should have gotten parents permission and if some students wanted to see it, it should have been their choice,” Smith said.
None of the film’s sexual content was shown to students.
Earlier this week, an Alabama teacher who showed 8th grade students a video filmstrip referring to President Bush in vulgar terms was fired by his school board after an investigation found porn on his computer.
Administrators determined that Steve White, also a Democratic candidate for the Alabama House, was showing videos rather than teaching science. The investigation found White showed videos with sex acts, nudity and other obscene images to students.
In Kentucky, Superintendent Howard K. Osborne would not say if action was taken against the teacher, who was not named. But he indicated “Brokeback Mountain,” which won an Oscar for best director, will not be shown again at the school.
“We’ve had an investigative inquiry and we’ve taken appropriate action,” Osborne said.
In March, a high-school student in Oregon produced a film based on “Brokeback Moutain” for a class assignment that included two boys in bed together. He showed his film to his Marine Biology class then was called into a meeting with three vice principals and told he was being transferred to a local community college to finish out his senior year. He later was allowed to return, however.
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‘Brokeback Mountain’: Rape of the Marlboro Man
