Comments on: Rent Remains Too Gay In West Virginia and Texas, Just Fine In Mississippi and Missouri

By: Steven

Steven — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:52:11 +0000

Interesting. I was expecting the website administrator or even someone that has commented that West Virginia would never do this show. I guess I adequately placed this blog and many of it members in their collective places with Martinsburg, WEST VIRGINIA students doing this very same show.

Not everyone from West Virginia are “rednecks”. Not every county thinks the same ways. You head into Wheeling, Morgantown, Martinsburg, and Huntington and you will be quite surprised that these are towns in West Virginia.

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:05:27 +0000

http://your4state.com/content/fulltext/?cid=34281

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:05:02 +0000

Oh, how little we forget. West Virginia doesn’t like rent? Well, boys, being a former guy from West Virginia, Martinsburg area schools had no problems with this production in October. School, city, and county officials gave a huge thumbs up and they did this show when only 9 other schools in the country was doing this.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:13:41 +0000

Bridgeport is hardly “in the woods” West Virginia. And I love how MY state gets picked on repeatedly as homophobic and backward when all those conservative sonsabitches in Utah and California have voted down gay marriage and gay rights REPEATEDLY.

The problem with RENT is that it is not a play suitable for high school age people. SORRY! As a former teacher myself, it blows my mind that they would even want to put a play depicting and somewhat glamorizing drug use on in a school. In the community it is different here – yes, there are assholes in WV, just like there are all over. Anyone been to NEW JERSEY? Honestly. Educate yourselves and think about what you are truly saying – would you want your children playing drug addicts? And do you want gay/lesbian characters depicted in the same breath (essentially) as drug addiction and other despotic acts? REALLY? We get enough of that on conservative media.

I think someone needs to quit pushing RENT just because it is a Broadway darling and come up with a wholesome view of gay/lesbian relationships that would not show us as child molesters, drug addicts, AIDS patients, hate-crime victims, animal fuckers, or flaming queens. GOOD GOD PEOPLE! We need to take control of the face we show the world, instead of letting the world put a mask on us!

By: David S.

David S. — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:19:14 +0000

Rent went forward in Austin, TX: http://www.kvue.com/news/local.....b21cc.html

By: anon

anon — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:18:44 +0000

@alex: I’ve never seen Rent, so I don’t know the content in detail, but I don’t think a school musical will do much to change my perspective on drugs or sex.

I do live in Europe, and we learn about drugs, sex, and std’s from the first year in high school (11-12 years old), we’ve also had scenes related to sex in school plays before, do you really feel the mindset is so different in the US that seeing it in a school musical will encourage kids to do drugs (or have sex), if they weren’t thinking of it before? If they are 14 or 15 years old, I don’t think it’s likely to be the first time they’ve heard of either of them?

By: alex

alex — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 01:29:48 +0000

Perhaps I’m in the minority here, but I feel that “Rent” is inappropriate for any high school. Consider for a moment that 9th graders are probably 14 years old. If I remember correctly, the show has a scene about sex. (Clearly, that would be edited out, I hope!) Yet, what is most disturbing to me is that the show portrays drug use.

As a former high school substitute teacher, I just don’t think that 14-15 year olds have the developmental maturity to handle “Rent”. These are kids that think YouTube videos of skateboard accidents are funny. They can’t handle placing illegal drug use into perspective, particularly when the heroine of the show gets to sing a song like “Out Tonight”.

By: dvlaries

dvlaries — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:38:50 +0000

I don’t know, West Virginia. Here in east Virginia, I think we can match you rather closely. After all, we put George ‘macaca’ Allen, with his Confederate flag in his living room, in both the governor’s mansion AND the Senate and, in the 90s, came within inches of putting Oliver North into elected office.

We’re here because this is where the work sent us, but the lover already has been told (repeatedly) if he outlives me, I don’t even want my ashes left in this fucking inbred asylum of a state.

By: ousslander

ousslander — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:34:54 +0000

is it because of the characters or because it’s horrible?

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:15:35 +0000

I grew up in Southern WV, and can’t imagine even my high school, which was pretty liberal even back in the days long ago that I was in high school, would ever touch this subject matter, even a sanitized version.

I’m moving back there shortly. Maybe I’ll be surprised, and it won’t be the intolerant hell hole I’m expecting. But I’m not counting on it.

By: David

David — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:22:38 +0000

I’m from West Virginia and the fact that Rent wasn’t allowed to be performed in a high school here does not surprise me (or anyone else, even if they’re not from here) at all.

The statement “We’re a bit back in the woods here” doesn’t even begin to describe it. I don’t think it’s possible to get any deeper into the woods in this “Wild and Wonderful” (eye roll) state.