Parents in Illinois are upset that a local high school is using books in advanced English classes that they say are laced with graphic sexual content, pervasive expletives and mockery of religion. The Angels in America books are required reading for advanced placement English students at Deerfield High School, but a parents' group wants them removed. "Who would have ever thought that we would be handing out pornography in public schools?" asked Lora Sue Hauser, executive director of North Shore Student Advocacy, and a Deerfield parent. "The fact that this was required is even more astonishing," she told Cybercast News Service. Hauser cites several examples of graphic passages from the text, including "Louis slips his hand down the front of Joe's pants. They embrace more tightly. Louis pulls his hand out, smells and tastes his fingers, and then holds them for Joe to smell ... they kiss again." They also objected to the quote "I want you to fuck me, hurt me, make me bleed." Hauser said her group formally challenged the use of the books in the school, and the school district committee decided to take it off the required reading list and put on an 'optional title' list. Angels in Amercia, a 10-year-old play on the topic of AIDS has been heralded as one of the great American plays of the 20th century. Playwright Tony Kushner won the Pulitzer Prize for the work.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 12th March 2008 - 10:02am