Here's a brief article that sets the stage for the beginning.
Lawsuit tests speech limits at UNM
Here's a followup on the case, which was ruled against the student.
Student can be punished for criticizing lesbian movie in film class, court rules - The College Fix
The case was appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (Judge Neil Gorsuch's old stomping ground), which ruled in favor of the university.
New Mexico student loses free speech appeal over anti-lesbian essay
I don't know if this will make it to the Supreme Court or not, but if it does, I gotta figure the student will win.
Basically, a student, Monica Pompeo, took a course at the University of New Mexico, “Images of (Wo)men: From Icons to Iconoclasts,” which was taught by professor Caroline Hinkley (lesbian activist, as it turns out) in 2012. One of the assignments was to critique the lesbian-themes movie "Desert Hearts." As part of Pompeo's critique of the 1985 film, she wrote that the movie could be viewed as "entirely perverse in its desire and attempt to reverse the natural roles of man and woman in addition to championing the barren wombs of these women."
I've seen that film, and it's a valid critique. It's not a bad movie at all, but the critique is spot on (lesbians, however, will tell you that it's just this side of sliced bread awesome). But professor Hinkley wasn't having any of it. She found that sentence in particular to be hate speech, and "the barren wombs of these women" to be particularly offensive. She refused to even grade the paper, telling Pompeo in the margins that unless she has some facts to back up her assertion, it's just “inflammatory and offensive,” and told her to rewrite the paper... or drop the class.
Free speech is supposed to be offensive. Otherwise it ain't free. Ironically, at the time of the film's release, several movie reviews, including that of the NYT, had the same critical sentiment of the film. Many of the negative reviews were dismissed because, you know, heterosexuals are effectively disqualified from perceptively reviewing gay films. And that's apparently the sentiment of this college professor and her Board of Regents.
Of all of the movies made (and funded almost exclusively) by and for lesbians, none have surpassed Desert Hearts at the box office. Ironically, the two leading actors, Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau, are (and were then) straight. Helen Shaver met her husband (a key grip on the set) while filming the movie, and they are still married, and have a son. Shaver mostly directs TV series and movies these days. Patricia Charbonneau married a couple of years before doing the film, and 2 days before the start of shooting she found out she was pregnant. She is still married to rock musician Vincent Caggiano, and has a daughter, Hannah. Charbonneau teaches acting at a performing arts academy near her home in the northern Catskills.
Lawsuit tests speech limits at UNM
Here's a followup on the case, which was ruled against the student.
Student can be punished for criticizing lesbian movie in film class, court rules - The College Fix
The case was appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (Judge Neil Gorsuch's old stomping ground), which ruled in favor of the university.
New Mexico student loses free speech appeal over anti-lesbian essay
I don't know if this will make it to the Supreme Court or not, but if it does, I gotta figure the student will win.
Basically, a student, Monica Pompeo, took a course at the University of New Mexico, “Images of (Wo)men: From Icons to Iconoclasts,” which was taught by professor Caroline Hinkley (lesbian activist, as it turns out) in 2012. One of the assignments was to critique the lesbian-themes movie "Desert Hearts." As part of Pompeo's critique of the 1985 film, she wrote that the movie could be viewed as "entirely perverse in its desire and attempt to reverse the natural roles of man and woman in addition to championing the barren wombs of these women."
I've seen that film, and it's a valid critique. It's not a bad movie at all, but the critique is spot on (lesbians, however, will tell you that it's just this side of sliced bread awesome). But professor Hinkley wasn't having any of it. She found that sentence in particular to be hate speech, and "the barren wombs of these women" to be particularly offensive. She refused to even grade the paper, telling Pompeo in the margins that unless she has some facts to back up her assertion, it's just “inflammatory and offensive,” and told her to rewrite the paper... or drop the class.
Free speech is supposed to be offensive. Otherwise it ain't free. Ironically, at the time of the film's release, several movie reviews, including that of the NYT, had the same critical sentiment of the film. Many of the negative reviews were dismissed because, you know, heterosexuals are effectively disqualified from perceptively reviewing gay films. And that's apparently the sentiment of this college professor and her Board of Regents.
Of all of the movies made (and funded almost exclusively) by and for lesbians, none have surpassed Desert Hearts at the box office. Ironically, the two leading actors, Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau, are (and were then) straight. Helen Shaver met her husband (a key grip on the set) while filming the movie, and they are still married, and have a son. Shaver mostly directs TV series and movies these days. Patricia Charbonneau married a couple of years before doing the film, and 2 days before the start of shooting she found out she was pregnant. She is still married to rock musician Vincent Caggiano, and has a daughter, Hannah. Charbonneau teaches acting at a performing arts academy near her home in the northern Catskills.
