Pennsylvania's school board voted unanimously this week to cancel a speaking event by gay actor and author Maulik Pancholy, but conservative school board members said he had told middle school students about his “lifestyle.” expressed concern that it would “impose” its style.
Pancholy is best known for his role as Jonathan on the NBC comedy. 30 locks and his Stonewall Book Award-winning novel the best technologywas scheduled to give a lecture on bullying prevention at Mountain View Middle School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, on May 22nd. However, at the April 15 meeting of the Cumberland Valley School Board, school board member Bud Schaffner made a motion to cancel the event immediately and communicated it to the rest of the schools. As reported by Today.com, Pancholy told the board, “I label myself an activist and I am proud of my lifestyle, and that should not be imposed on students at any age. I don't think so.''
Video footage of the meeting shows several board members agreeing with Schaffner's objections. “It doesn't discriminate against his lifestyle. It's his choice,” board member Kelly Pottiger said in defense of the motion to cancel the event, while recently elected member Matt Barrick said He simply asked the board:[g]Eliminate politics from schools. ” Schaffner's motion passed unanimously, 8-0.
As stated on his official website, Pancholy joined former President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in 2014, a year after coming out publicly. He is the co-founder of the anti-bullying nonprofit “Act To Change,” and his speaking events focus on confronting bullying, especially regarding his AAPI and his LGBTQ+ youth. Pancholy has yet to comment publicly on the cancellation.
“It was supposed to be a rally about empathy and anti-bullying,” Brooke Ryerson, an LGBTQ+ high school sophomore who previously attended Mountain View, said in a comment to Today.com. “But for the board it doesn't matter. They want to silence us in every possible way […] They are sending a message that they do not want the school to know our identity. ” Mr. Schaffner defended his own motion, telling Today that he was concerned that Mr. Pancholy would “go off-script” on politics, adding:[p]Politically motivated debates take place at home, not in the classroom. ”
Trisha Comstock, a local parent whose child previously attended Mountain View, started a Change.org petition in response to the cancellation, protesting the board's decision and asking that talks continue as planned. Ta. “Being LGBTQ+ is not a little secret to protect our students,” Comstock wrote in her petition. “Canceling this gathering sends a harmful message to students: that being different is something to be ashamed of or something to hide,” she added. “We must challenge this narrative by bringing back the Congress with Maulik Pancholi.”
Comstock's petition had over 1,900 signatures as of press time. “I have never seen the community come together like it does now,” she told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. “We are sending a clear message that there should be no bias in education.”
In recent years, conservatives across the country have increased their focus on school board elections to advance far-right causes, particularly weakening teachers unions and reducing LGBTQ+ acceptance. The conference descended into chaos and even violence over issues affecting LGBTQ+ students. But while there are still far fewer LGBTQ+ school board members publicly opposing proposals like Schaffner's, efforts to control schools may be having fewer successes. In St. Louis, all 13 “anti-woke” school board candidates lost their candidacies. He is running for office in a local primary earlier this month.
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