Local school districts/parents boycott a remote university's theater production amid concerns the show will give their kids "the gay."

The University of Minnesota-Morris campus is a small school out on the remote rolling prairie, 25 miles east of Grand Forks, ND and a little more than an hour northeast of Fargo, ND. ('member da movie? Oh Ya!) [link]

When the school's theater department stages a production they typically draw grade-school kids from the surrounding school districts as a means of financing their shows. But this year's children-centered production, "Cootie Shots," themed on tolerance, has drawn some heat because area parents and school adminstrators believe it promotes homosexuality. One of my favorites quotes comes from a school board member who says:

"Oh, it's very obvious," countered Laura Carrington, a school board member and retired teacher. "There's a script called 'The Parable of the Stimples.' The Stimples are people who are told that it's OK to make loud noises, but just don't make them in public. Isn't that similar to what, for years, homosexuals were told? ... It's not Cooties they're talking about, it's AIDS," she said. "Our job is to protect all our children."