[Just had to post this! Seems humorous to me, but then I tend to laugh at most anything.]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-fcorpus30mar30.story?coll=sfla%2Dhome%2Dheadlines

A Florida Atlantic University campus performance of a controversial play that depicts Jesus Christ as gay has stirred an emotional debate in the Florida Legislature with some lawmakers warning of retaliation against the school's budget.

A group of South Florida legislators said they were so shocked by the description they heard Thursday of the play -- Terrance McNally's Corpus Christi -- that they called FAU President Anthony Catanese on his car phone, demanding an explanation.

"I think it's so tasteless," Republican state Sen. Debby Sanderson of Fort Lauderdale, a 1974 FAU graduate, told Catanese. "We're all offended."

The drama in question is a play within a play, in which 13 actors re-enact the story of Jesus as if it took place in modern Texas. In this version, Jesus is gay and killed by a gang of gay bashers.

Said Sen. Dan Webster, R-Orlando: "We need to be asking -- is this one of our priorities? We've already had to cut a lot of funding. Maybe the school's art and cultural program funds are better spent somewhere else. We do need money for school reading programs."

Sensitive to the fact that legislators are preparing a state budget that includes hundreds of millions of dollars in FAU spending requests, Catanese told legislators he shared their concerns but was unable to cancel the production because it would trample on the "principles of academic freedom."

Catanese, instead, said he would convene a committee of senior scholars to review policies and procedures for such controversial events.

"The faculty of the theater department made the decision to stage this play under the principles of academic freedom that have been a bulwark of higher education in the United States for many decades," Catanese said in a prepared release.

Besides ordering the policy review, Catanese said he would not go see the play and would advise others who might be offended to avoid it.

Several lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature, said they weren't sure whether Catanese's actions would suffice. Though they hadn't seen the production, which began Wednesday and runs through Saturday at the Schmidt Performing Arts Center in Boca Raton, some legislators labeled the play as "tasteless," "offensive," "bigoted" and even a sign of an "anti-Christian bias in academia."

"The senators have indicated to me that they are very, very, very upset that a program like this would be shown," said Sen. Skip Campbell, D-Tamarac. "A lot of people just don't believe that tax dollars should be spent showing a religious leader in a way that is very offensive to a religion."

Sen. Rudy Garcia, R-Miami, said, "Taxpayers would be offended if they knew their hard-earned tax collars were used in such a way."

The production has drawn scrutiny since 1998, when it opened on Broadway. Much of the opposition has been flamed by the Catholic League for Religious Civil Rights. The league threatened violence when the show opened in New York City, and the same organization sent Florida legislators a news release that was circulated in the halls of the Capitol on Thursday.

In the release, the group says that FAU has a variety of programs on the teaching of various cultures and religions, but "has no expert in anti-Catholicism and no Catholic studies program."

Noting that FAU is a state-funded school, the release says: "There is little doubt that if Catholics requested that the school sponsor religious events during Holy Week, cries of separation of church and state would be heard. Yet the school has no problem using state funds to sponsor bigotry."

Many legislators wondered whether state funds are being used for the production. The show, with student performers, is funded by the Student Government Production Board, which relies on fees paid by the students. Critics of the production noted that the 150-seat stadium relies on state funds for construction and operation.

Officials said the production is fairly inexpensive, between $600 and $1,000. There is no set other than a few wooden benches. The costumes are street clothes.

Regardless, a host of state funds for FAU could be in jeopardy.

"What a bad time to have a battle with the House and Senate when we're dealing with the university budgets," said House Majority Leader Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. The Senate gave tentative approval to a state budget Thursday and the House is scheduled to do the same today.

"We're not in the business of retaliation," Fasano added. "But of course, when we see something that we think is not appropriate, we have the responsibility to our taxpayers to let them know something is wrong and to take action."

FAU has an annual budget of about $250 million, including more than $100 million in state funds. This year, campus leaders want legislators to spend $6 million for a new branch campus in Pembroke Pines, $22 million for a new teacher education center in Davie, and $2.4 million for a medical education program that it hopes to launch with the University of Miami.

University officials reacted defensively to legislators' remarks.

"I'm scared when anyone tries to use a political position to enforce censorship," said Fred Hoffmann, FAU Faculty Senate president. He called the potential for funding cuts over the issue a "gross overreaction."

Earlier this week, Catanese lobbied legislators for university funding, in particular a $1.8 million "Internet Coast" initiative aimed at creating a partnership between the school and South Florida's high-tech businesses.

To some legislators the debate is similar to one in 1995 when Cuban-American legislators denounced a University of Florida symposium featuring three Cuban professors. Critics called them "communist agents." Defenders said they had the right to speak in, of all places, an American public university.

Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, said she is bothered by the criticisms of the Corpus Christi production.

"The last thing we want to do is to censor one of the last great marketplaces of ideas, a public university," she said.

Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, agreed. "It's not good for the Legislature to impose its will on the university," Klein said.

The play's critics in the Legislature are less certain.

"It's strange that in America today, you can't always hang a copy of the Ten Commandments but you can bring in something that someone calls art that is offensive to a lot of people," said House Speaker Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo.

Staff Writers Linda Kleindienst and Sean Cavanagh contributed to this report.

Mark Hollis can be reached at mhollis@sun-sentinel.com or 850-224-6214.

Copyright © 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By MARK HOLLIS and KARLA SCHUSTER Staff Writers Posted March 30 2001

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Answers

That's almost as tacky as the "Queerios" players that put on their version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show in Austin...

Queerios

They take their name from the gay joke "Have you heard about the new cereal Queerios? You just add milk and they eat themselves.."

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Sound like acrobats, Carl! LOL

The contortions involved to do that are beyond me, not that I would try...

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001