A straight Oregon
high school student lied, according to school
officials, when he reported on his Web site that
he had been expelled for not editing out a
gay "snuggle scene" from a class film project titled
Brokeback High. Allegations that West Linn
High School student Brandon Flyte was being forced to
spend the last two months of his senior year at a
local community college because of the controversy
surrounding his film aren't true, school
administrators said, and now the teen is in real
trouble because of the turmoil resulting from his
claim.
"He has disrupted
the school," West Linn-Wilsonville superintendent
Roger Woehl told The [Portland]
Oregonian in a story published Thursday. "This
is clearly a behavior we don't find acceptable." The school
forwarded to police e-mails that contained threats to
burn down the school and other claims of physical
threats by those angered by the alleged expulsion.
But Flyte
responded on his Web site that the school officials are
the ones who are lying, under the assumption that they are
more likely to be believed than a
student--especially one with an admittedly spotty
attendance record. "[Woehl] claims that the transfer was not
mandatory," Flyte said. "Whether the rest is a
misunderstanding or not, this is an absolute lie. I
asked specifically when I was called into the office
and informed of the transfer if I had a choice in the
matter, and I was told that I did not."
According to The Oregonian, the controversy started with an
English assignment to film a tragedy. Flyte created
Brokeback High, which told the story of a
closeted gay high school athlete forced to live the life
everyone expected of him despite it being a lie. After
meeting an openly gay student, he eventually admits
his homosexuality. The two end up in bed together,
shirtless and snuggling. Flyte played the part of the
athlete.
The assignment
forbade sex scenes, nudity, and violence. Flyte removed
the snuggling scene for the English class and got rave
reviews for the film. Several other students also had
to remove scenes from their projects. The class voted
Flyte best actor. Word of Brokeback High spread, and
Flyte was asked to play it for his marine biology
class. This time, however, he left in the snuggle
scene. That landed him in the dean's office for
insubordination. It was the last in a series of
misbehaviors for the teen, Woehl said.
Flyte admitted
that he has "not been a model student throughout high
school" but said he has been turning things around recently,
so to have his past used against him is "disheartening
and insulting." He added that he complied with the
dean's original request even though there was no
nudity in his film. "Two boys in each other's arms is
not sex, bare chests are not nudity--or else the
entire swim team should be suspended for indecent
exposure," Flyte said. "My film did have some
violence, which I was not asked to remove. Likewise, several
of the other films had violence in them that was
allowed to stand." (The Advocate)
