Media Trail

Students protest gay prom date

365gay. com reports that some students at a Georgia high school organized a protest on March 25 to speak out against student Derrick Martin, who had been given the OK to bring his boyfriend to prom.

“I don’t believe in going up there and dancing with gay guys like that,” said protest organizer Amber Duskin, a senior at Bleckley County High School. “It’s also not just him bringing a boy. It was bringing all this attention to it.”

Martin’s parents, who reportedly dislike the media attention, kicked him out of the house. He is currently staying with friends. Ironically, Martin’s father is a math teacher at Bleckley County High and was named the school’s Teacher of the Year.

Reportedly, the school is considering abandoning the traditional “walk-through,” where couples are announced as they enter the dance. He also said some students discussed having a separate prom.

Gay play canceled

The Houston Chronicle reports the performance of a play that portrays Jesus as gay has been canceled at Tarleton State University amid “safety and security concerns.”

Critics have called the Terrence McNally play, “Corpus Christi,” blasphemous. But the Tarleton student directing the production said he chose it to help gay youths who may be struggling with their faith.

Security concerns prompted the university to initially change the start time and restrict attendance for the March 27 production. Then, on the night of March 26, the school put a statement on its Web site saying it decided to cancel it.

The school said the production will not be rescheduled.

GLAAD protests film

Yahoo News reports the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is calling on the Tribeca Film Festival to pull a transgender comedy from its April lineup.

The film, “Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives,” pays homage to exploitation films and follows transgender women who are beaten and then seek revenge.

GLAAD stated the film misrepresents the lives of transgender women and that the characters are caricatures “written as drag queens.” The organization also objected to the word “trannies” in the title.

Director Israel Luna and producer Toni Miller released a joint statement in response, saying they were surprised by GLAAD’s announcement and that they gave a copy of the film to GLAAD in February.

— Larry Nichols

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