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Chesterfield, Virginia: School Cancels Author’s Speech
March 07, 2005
PEN USA is disappointed that the Chesterfield school system canceled author Greg Herren’s appearance in Manchester High School.
Herren, 43, is an author from New Orleans who has written four novels, which, according to him, “blend homosexual themes into common literary motifs, such as murder mysteries.”
Herren, who is gay, was invited to speak at the school by the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. The arrangements were made earlier this year for him to talk during the school day on March 11, but in the past week, protests were so strong that the school administration changed the event to after-school hours, and then finally cancelled the whole thing.
Some protests came from parents who were under the impression that Herren wrote erotic novels, and would bring copies of his novels to hand out and sign. Herren told local newspaper Richmond Times-Dispatch that was never the case. “My message [to students] is to be yourself and chase your dreams. I don’t read from my books to kids; mainly because I know that parents might find my books troubling,” he said to the newspaper.
“I was asked to bring copies of my books to donate to the library, and I want to make something very clear here: I was not bringing anything with erotic content. Period.” Herren continued. “I really resent the implication that I am incapable of knowing what is appropriate subject matter for teenagers. I am not a stupid man.”
Protests seem to have come from parents who did not want their high school students to be part of any dialogue on homosexuality, regardless of any First Amendment rights.
Eric Russell, faculty sponsor to the Gay-Straight Alliance, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he invited the author with the support of Manchester Principal Peter Koste. Gay and lesbian students “have a legal right to be respected. You want to know there are people out there like you. They don’t want to be told they’re not important [and] they can’t have people come talk to them,” Russell said.
PEN USA is disappointed that the school administration, who so admirably approved this speaker to come, was so quick to cancel due to complaints. Defending the First Amendment is not a easy task, but a public school official needs to stand strong and set an example in the world of academia, where the sharing of ideas and opinions is so important.
“In a very real way, citizenship begins in the classroom,” says David L. Ulin, co-chair of PEN USA’s Domestic Freedom to Write Committee, writer, and teacher of writing at the university and graduate level. “If school officials do not support and protect the basic tenets of intellectual freedom, then how will these fundamental American values survive?”
Recommended Action:
Please write the Principal of the school and ask that the event be rescheduled and apologies made to members of the Gay-Straight Alliance and Mr. Herren, because of infringements on their First Amendment rights:
Principal Koste
12601 Bailey Bridge Road
Midlothian, VA 23112
Office (804)739.6275
Fax (804)739.6340
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