Abhorrent bigotry in the Arts today

What's this, I hear you ask? Another blog within days of the last?  Well, this time, I feel I have something really important to talk about.

 

There was a really discomfiting articel in today's Guardian, which you can read here, and I urge you to do so, by Lee Hall, the writer of the film, Billy Elliott.

 

It seems that for the last year, he has been working on a massive community-based opera project for children, with Opera North, and has come up against opposition for having one (adult) character in the piece who happens to be gay.

 

Bay school, who were supplying about 300 children to be involved with the project, have raised objections to some references to one character's sexuality, and when Mr Hall refused to remove those references, they have decided to withdraw their pupils.  Opera North, bizarrely, didn't support Mr Hall's standpoint, and the project has collapsed.

 

It is utterly baffling to me that an organization like Opera North can be seen to be supporting such flagrant homophbia.  As a publicly-funded body, usually committed to producing thought-provoking and original work, I don't see how they can possibly see their way clear to being able to endorse this bigotry.  Don't we live in a society that a) has evolved beyond such antediluvian views, and b) that by law, does not allow discrimination on the grounds of sexuality?

 

What message is this sending out to the children about tolerance and acceptance?

 

Opera North's response to the criticism can be read here.  Frankly, it excuses or explains nothing!

 

I spent some little while earlier today forulating my own comment, which I have left on the Guardian page, but I'll quote it in full here:

 

"I'm very saddned by this story, and more than a little angry that an establishment that it supposed to safeguard the education of our next generation of adults (the school in question) has chosen a standpoint entirely at odds with just that aim.

 

Aside from the argument about censoring the Arts, and dumbing down the creative output of the authors involved, which is something I could wax lyrical upon until I go purple (and something that Opera North, as a publically-funded arts-based organisation should REALLY be taking a close look at!), it's just baffling to me that the school has taken this view.

 

It seems that anyone can present any reprehensible view they choose these days, as long as they append it with a disclaimer. To try to claim that none of the parties involved in this are being homophobic is plainly ridiculous. They might try to assert that they are only trying to protect other parties' sensitivities to the issue, but by that, they mean that they are supporting other peoples' homophobic stance, and by extension, endorsing it. To endorse homophobia is to say to the world that you agree with it, and therefore, be homophobic oneself.

 

The most bonkers aspect about all of this, as far as I see it, is that I firmly and whole-heartedly believe that primary-school-age children are EXACTLY the right age to learn about homosexuality. I'm not talking about the nitty-gritty aspects of gay sex acts, but then, the nitty-gritty of straight sex acts is just as innappropriate for young children to know about. Young children are a blank page, hungry for new information. We can choose to inform these data-sponges that bigotry and prejudice are good things, or we can choose to tell them that life is diverse, and that that is good. Small children do not judge, they accept. They only learn judgements from others at such a tender age. How could they not? they don't have the life experience yet to make up their own minds.

 

I have two nieces and a nephew, now 19, 17 and 12, and they have always grown up knowing that Uncle Nathan is gay, and exactly what that means. It has never been a problem for them, and incidentally, none of them are gay themselves. In fact, they are open-minded, accepting, tolerant people, in a way that they might not have been, if brought up being told that being gay is wrong, or deviant, or immoral, or that black people are somehow beneath the status of white people, or that it's ok to bully people with ginger hair. Because, let's face it, this is a wider issue that simply the issue of homophobia. As far as I am led to believe, it's not even as though this is a gay opera (whatever that might be!). It's an issue of prejudice, and that is not something that children of any age should be encouraged to believe in as an acceptable way forward. Isn't it illegal to discriminate on grounds of sexuality or gender in this country?

 

Haven't we evolved a long way past that as a society? I would hope so, but it seems we still have a long way to go.

 

The key to stamping out bigotry of any kind is with education. People are frightened of that which they don't understand. I would defend (although be saddend by) any parent's right to withdraw their child from this project if they felt it conflicted with their views of right and wrong, but education starts with the young, and schools have a responsibility to send well-rounded, open-minded people out into the world. In order to eradicate hate and misunderstanding, we need to catch people before learned prejudices become dyed-in-the-wool."

 

Allowing business-types to censor creativity in this way, simply to fulfil their questionable criteria is surely setting a very dangerous precedent.  It opens the doors for all manner of dumbing down, and social smothering ideas, that are positively Orwellian in their reach and damage.

 

An organization like Opera North has a responsibilty to be current and valid in the real world of today, and that's a world, that like it or not, contains all manner of people whose lifestyles may differ from that of your own, but are in no way less important.

 

Surely, the Arts is the last place on earth that one would expect to encounter bigotry of any kind, let alone that of a homophobic nature?

 

I fully support Lee Hall and congratulate him for not pandering to such ridiculous and dangerous bureaucracy, to the point where he would rather see the project collapse than be dictated to by people whose views haev no relevence in today's society.  Fainter-hearted men would, however unwillingly, have acceeded to these NIMBY whinings, just to ensure the safety of the project, but at what cost? Principles? Surely.

 

It makes me very cross that an art-form that many already see as outdated and staid (a view that I don't subscribe to), when trying to bring itself up to date, gets thwarted by the small-minded opinions of a few pen-pushers.  I would have thought that Opera North would be keen to take any opportunity they could to show what modern and progressive bastions of today's art they are, with a social responsibility as well as a financial one, rather than wanting to fall into the corporate trap, trying to please every petty naysayer, and in the process, diluting their output to the point where it might as well be like a glass of distilled water, with all the stuff worth having taken out.

 

As for the school itself, my views about education and prejudice have been clearly outlined above.

 

If you feel strongly about this issue, why not email Opera North directly, and tell them yourself?  I fully intend to.  You can reach the Education Manager, Helen Mahony by emailing her at: helen.mahoney@operanorth.co.uk.

 

You can also contact Bay Primary School.  The head teacher is called Mrs Hobbs, and the school's email address is: bay.primary@eastriding.gov.uk.

 

So this is me, signing off.

 

Opera North have released a further statement, firmly placing the blame for this fiasco at the door of the school in question, and the Local Education Authority, while managing to entirely side-step around the issue of their own opinion on the subject.

 

This post has been viewed 470 times.