Deerfield High School is under fire from a conservative Christian group for allowing seniors in an Advanced Placement English literature course the choice to read a Pulitzer Prize-winning play that discusses LGBT issues and the beginning of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
North Shore Student Advocacy ( NSSA ) , as well as the anti-gay Concerned Women for America ( CWA ) , want School District 113 to fire or call for the resignation of Superintendent George Fornero, Principal Sue Hobson and any teachers involved in allowing students to opt to read Tony Kushner's Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. The Advance Placement College Board approved Angels in America as required reading for the class, but after pressure from NSSA, the school board caved and made it optional.
This isn't the first time the school has received complaints from NSSA. Last year, NSSA rallied against Deerfield High School for a freshman orientation class that includes discussions about anti-gay harassment and bullying led by the school's Gay Straight Alliance.
NSSA and CWA called Kushner's play racist, gay pornography that violates state obscenity's laws in a recent press release. Three different elements need to be presented before a court before a book or publication can be deemed legally obscene, and according to a recent article by Suburban Chicago News, Lake County State's Attorney Mike Waller said the play does not violate any obscenity laws.
Unfortunately, attempts to ban books at schools occur frequently, according to American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois' Ed Yohnka.
'It almost always has to do with sexuality,' Yohnka told Windy City Times. 'This sort of thing, unfortunately, happens all the time.'
According to the American Library Association ( ALA ) , books that deal with issues of sexual expression or sexual identity are frequent targets of censorship. The association feels that parents, not schools and libraries, should be primarily responsible for protecting kids from materials, whether or not they are deemed legally obscene. The ALA feels that government institutions like public schools and libraries shouldn't be expected to interfere with parental responsibilities and obligations.
In 2006, a newly elected school board member of District 214, which is located in the Northwest suburbs, voted against the purchase of several books that included themes of sexuality. According to Yonkha, a number of students and parents made an effort to speak out against banning these books, and voiced their desire to have a diversity of viewpoints and choices at their school.
Often, Yohnka said, schools don't hear from the other side, and instead get caught up in the demands of conservative parents and groups.
Despite the pressure, schools do have a lot of power when it comes to deciding what is best for the students, according to the ACLU of Illinois.
'Schools ought to have a lot of authority over what is education- and age-appropriate,' Yohnka said. 'There is a certain effort to force everyone else to comply to a certain viewpoint, that I think that's never a good policy.'
