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WHS choir, school caught in landslide over Queen song (Wasilla bans Bohemian Rhapsody as too gay)
Wasilla Frontiersman ^ | May 12, 2011 | K.T. McKee

Posted on 05/13/2011 9:55:15 PM PDT by tlb

WASILLA — When members of Wasilla High School’s symphonic jazz choir heard Friday it wouldn’t be singing the popular Queen hit “Bohemian Rhapsody” at this year’s graduation ceremony after working on it all year, the students couldn’t get their heads around it.

WHS Principal Dwight Probasco reportedly had received complaints from at least one parent that the 1975 hit written by Freddie Mercury wasn’t appropriate for the ceremony simply because Mercury was gay.

“The whole thing was just ridiculous,” senior Rachel Clark said Monday. “They’d played the song on the school intercom and we played it at prom.”

Choir member Casey Hight, a junior, was angry enough to contact a gay and lesbian support organization in Anchorage. They told her to contact the American Civil Liberties Union.

“I felt like the school was discriminating for sexual orientation and I felt it was wrong,” Hight said Monday. “It’s so stupid because there’s nothing sexual in the song. There aren’t even any cuss words.”

Although Probasco wouldn’t comment on the issue Monday, Senior Class Advisor Deb Haynes said Probasco has now agreed to allow the choir to sing an edited version of Bohemian Rhapsody that doesn’t include lyrics in one section about killing a man.

“The kids had put a lot of time into the song, but at graduation we really try to accommodate anything that might be a sensitive issue for anybody,” Haynes said, adding she didn’t understand why the song would have been a problem in the first place. “I’ve heard it a hundred times and it’s never bothered me.”

Hight said she believes Probasco decided to put the song back on the graduation program because he didn’t want any problems with the ACLU.

“We were joking about singing Elton John’s ‘Candle in the Wind,’ instead,” Clark said.

(Excerpt) Read more at frontiersman.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: freddie; queen; school; wasilla
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To: HiTech RedNeck; re_nortex

>>> Bohemian Rhapsody as a polka? It would be to die.

You inspired me to look. Who knew.

Bohemian Polka - Weird Al Yankovic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfLX7zE6jxw

Warning. Freddie Mercury polkas may turn you gay and leave you hopping around in leather Lederhosen.


81 posted on 05/14/2011 3:03:28 AM PDT by tlb
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To: HiTech RedNeck
UC Men's Octet
82 posted on 05/14/2011 3:57:20 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
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To: melsec
Funk is supposed to be the smell of having sex (Ewww).

Did you spell that correctly? I thought it was spelled (ahhhh)!

83 posted on 05/14/2011 4:06:54 AM PDT by bobzeetwin
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To: Lancey Howard

“Smokin’ in the boys room” by Brownsville Station.


84 posted on 05/14/2011 4:07:24 AM PDT by tal hajus (ever the cynic)
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To: tlb
How about Lawrence Welk doing "One Toke Over the Line"?
85 posted on 05/14/2011 7:03:33 AM PDT by magslinger (What Would Stephen Decatur Do?)
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To: Kickass Conservative
At least ONE parent complained? The tyranny of the minority.

Happened again...here in Greenville County, SC. Principal says no prayer at graduation (which previously was voted upon by the student body, which had voted yes to have one for the past 50+ years)...one student complained that it was "offensive" (with parent's backing of course), and so now, no prayer. No vote. No prayer. Period.

Offensive? I'm so darn sick and tired of this "offensive" defense. Nobody has a right in America to NOT be offended! Sheesh! This PC crap is absolutely killing the country! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

86 posted on 05/14/2011 8:29:32 AM PDT by nfldgirl
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Originally, it was spelled "jass."
87 posted on 05/14/2011 8:59:33 AM PDT by danielmryan
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla

What the hell are you not seeing? Hard to debate w someone who thinks writing hell is a sin. Go away simpleton.


88 posted on 05/14/2011 8:50:54 PM PDT by TwoSwords (The Lord is a man of war, Exodus 15:3)
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To: abigkahuna

LOL...American Bandstand...


89 posted on 05/14/2011 8:57:20 PM PDT by magritte ("There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself "Do trousers matter?")
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To: bobzeetwin

Bob bob bob ! LOL


90 posted on 05/14/2011 9:15:25 PM PDT by melsec
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To: TwoSwords

‘Go away simpleton.’

Around here it is those who seem to be irreligious, racist, newbies who tend to go away.


91 posted on 05/15/2011 12:28:49 AM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable -- Daniel Webster)
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To: tlb

“WHS Principal Dwight Probasco reportedly had received complaints from at least one parent that the 1975 hit written by Freddie Mercury wasn’t appropriate for the ceremony simply because Mercury was gay.”

Yeah...and I remember a parent who complained that my daughter’s 9th grade dance was to be held on Good Friday, and it offended her.

Of course, that was the day they left for Disney World, and they didn’t want their daughter to miss the dance so they complained to have the dance cancelled.

Queen was brilliant and nothing will ever take that away from them.

“Anyway the wind blows...”


92 posted on 05/15/2011 12:40:48 AM PDT by dixiechick2000 (Age, skill, wisdom, and a little treachery always overcome youth and arrogance!)
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To: tlb

A wasted use of the anti-homo-indoctrination card. There a better battles than this which shouldn’t be a battle at all.


93 posted on 05/15/2011 12:45:03 AM PDT by Gene Eric (*** Jesus ***)
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Irreligious-I’m Protestant. I don’t need another human to tell me I’m ok w God. Racist-God made men & women, he gave me the werewithal to see them as they are. Newbie-what a stupid argument. Not surprising.


94 posted on 05/15/2011 12:57:54 AM PDT by TwoSwords (The Lord is a man of war, Exodus 15:3)
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To: TwoSwords

You are a suspect troll, and more evidence of it will not be helpful.


95 posted on 05/15/2011 1:03:50 AM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable -- Daniel Webster)
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To: TwoSwords

IBTZ!


96 posted on 05/15/2011 1:05:30 AM PDT by PA Engineer (Time to beat the swords of government tyranny into the plowshares of freedom.)
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To: PA Engineer

I expected better out of you. Ban me if you want.


97 posted on 05/15/2011 1:08:09 AM PDT by TwoSwords (The Lord is a man of war, Exodus 15:3)
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To: TwoSwords

Dude, you ban yourself.


98 posted on 05/15/2011 1:15:49 AM PDT by PA Engineer (Time to beat the swords of government tyranny into the plowshares of freedom.)
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To: PA Engineer

Usually, you make a lot of sense. Not sure what I said that has made you want to ban me. I’m pretty sure I know but please explain.


99 posted on 05/15/2011 1:19:30 AM PDT by TwoSwords (The Lord is a man of war, Exodus 15:3)
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