04/03/2014
World-Herald
World-Herald
State champion Michael Barth was at the center of a battle over whether to censor his speech.
Audio: The Bottom Line's Mike'l Severe spoke with Michael Barth's mother, Kim Buchan, on Wednesday before the NSAA reversed its decision. Listen here.
Video: Michael Barth performs his poetry project. Watch here.
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A battle over free speech ended Wednesday with a dramatic finish.
Under pressure from free-speech advocates, the Nebraska School Activities Association backed down, allowing teen speech champion Michael Barth to perform his poetry presentation on gender identity.
The association's executive director had initially blocked Barth, a Gordon-Rushville High School senior, from giving the presentation for a television broadcast highlighting state champions from last week's speech contest.
Rhonda Blanford-Green, the executive director, said the association decided the presentation was inappropriate for the broadcast because people could perceive that the NSAA endorsed the content. It would invite controversy, she said.
Instead, the NSAA's decision sparked a firestorm of criticism on social media across the country. The group then reversed itself.
Barth learned of the reversal Wednesday as he was traveling to Lincoln to participate in the broadcast. He'd lost phone service along Interstate 80 east of North Platte, but about 5:30 p.m., he said, a barrage of text messages poured in.
By that time, scores had taken to Twitter in support under the hash tag #LetMichaelSpeak.
“The speech community is made up of the underdogs and the outcasts, and the weird people, and I'm one of them,” he said. “When a message like this has a chance of getting out there and somebody gets in the way of it,” he added, the speech community is “not going to let it happen.”
Blanford-Green said the association didn't seek to limit free speech.
“The intent of my decision was not to stifle freedom of speech, but rather to avoid any negative connotations for individuals within this statewide production,” she said. “The NSAA will continue to advocate for all students and promote equitable opportunities through activity participation.”
Barth won a first place medal at the state high school speech tournament last week.
He said his presentation was based on the poems “Swingset,” “Same Love” and “Manly Man.''
“Swingset,” by Andrea Gibson, is about a lesbian kindergarten teacher whose students wonder if she is male or female.
Barth said his only option under the initial NSAA decision would have been to eliminate “Swingset” entirely.
“That just wasn't happening,” he said. “Absolutely not.”
Barth's mother, Kim Buchan, said Wednesday that her son is a youth group member, a drama kid and an excellent student.
“The last time I talked to Michael, I think he decided to dig his feet in,” she said. “This is the speech he won with, it was seen by seven judges at state speech. They found nothing wrong with the content. And there is nothing wrong with the content.”
She added: “All this is about is, basically what his stance is, you shouldn't look at a man and, because he's feminine, think that he's gay.”
Barth said his presentation was inspired by the bigotry he's faced. Students have bullied him, he said, and called him homophobic slurs for much of his life.
“Despite being a feminine person, I am still a man and that's what I am,” he said. “That's what I discovered through doing this.”
Buchan said her son has been accepted into the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“He's just a great kid. He's always been somebody who is everybody's friend and has very strong beliefs about things.”
Blanford-Green said Barth can keep the Class C-1 title. Judges did not find the content out of bounds for the contest, which is sponsored by the association.
But Barth was initially told to choose a different poem to perform for the “Best of the Best'' broadcast on Nebraska Educational Television before the NSAA changed its decision.
“We don't want to use a showcase for the Best of the Best to promote personal agendas,” she said.
Blanford-Green said it's appropriate for students competing at the state contest to explore social issues.
Deb Velder, the contest director, said Blanford-Green made the original decision to ask Barth to prepare a different speech.
The recording session for the broadcast is scheduled for 1 p.m. today. All nine NSAA speaking events will be showcased, 14 students in all.
Barth was selected from among poetry champions in six classes. The show is scheduled to air statewide Easter morning — April 20 — at 9 a.m. CDT on NET1. It also will be available online and will be rebroadcast at a later date on NET2.
Velder said she believed Barth, for the contest, had edited some of the wording from the poem “Swingset,” which in some versions contained profanity. “But the content and the message was still there.”
Kara Acino, speech teacher at Scottsbluff High School, said that she called the NSAA to complain about the original decision and that her calls were met with, “Nebraska isn't ready for the poetry performance.”
Merrell Nelsen, superintendent of Gordon-Rushville Public Schools, described Barth as “an excellent young man.” His district has 710 students in pre-kindergarten through senior high.
Nelsen said he didn't want to discuss whether the topic was appropriate.
“We support Michael. We're very proud of him, think he's done a great job.”
Nelsen said he believes Barth is not advocating one way or another. “He's just talking about not having stereotypes associated with people.”
Barth performed the speech at contests throughout the year without problems, he said.
Velder said she didn't think the controversy would have an effect on what topics students choose for the annual contest.
“If anything, it's going to make local schools and people more aware of the topics that their students are bringing forward, rather than being surprised after the fact,” she said.
Under pressure from free-speech advocates, the Nebraska School Activities Association backed down, allowing teen speech champion Michael Barth to perform his poetry presentation on gender identity.
The association's executive director had initially blocked Barth, a Gordon-Rushville High School senior, from giving the presentation for a television broadcast highlighting state champions from last week's speech contest.
Rhonda Blanford-Green, the executive director, said the association decided the presentation was inappropriate for the broadcast because people could perceive that the NSAA endorsed the content. It would invite controversy, she said.
Instead, the NSAA's decision sparked a firestorm of criticism on social media across the country. The group then reversed itself.
Barth learned of the reversal Wednesday as he was traveling to Lincoln to participate in the broadcast. He'd lost phone service along Interstate 80 east of North Platte, but about 5:30 p.m., he said, a barrage of text messages poured in.
By that time, scores had taken to Twitter in support under the hash tag #LetMichaelSpeak.
“The speech community is made up of the underdogs and the outcasts, and the weird people, and I'm one of them,” he said. “When a message like this has a chance of getting out there and somebody gets in the way of it,” he added, the speech community is “not going to let it happen.”
Blanford-Green said the association didn't seek to limit free speech.
“The intent of my decision was not to stifle freedom of speech, but rather to avoid any negative connotations for individuals within this statewide production,” she said. “The NSAA will continue to advocate for all students and promote equitable opportunities through activity participation.”
Barth won a first place medal at the state high school speech tournament last week.
He said his presentation was based on the poems “Swingset,” “Same Love” and “Manly Man.''
“Swingset,” by Andrea Gibson, is about a lesbian kindergarten teacher whose students wonder if she is male or female.
Barth said his only option under the initial NSAA decision would have been to eliminate “Swingset” entirely.
“That just wasn't happening,” he said. “Absolutely not.”
Barth's mother, Kim Buchan, said Wednesday that her son is a youth group member, a drama kid and an excellent student.
“The last time I talked to Michael, I think he decided to dig his feet in,” she said. “This is the speech he won with, it was seen by seven judges at state speech. They found nothing wrong with the content. And there is nothing wrong with the content.”
She added: “All this is about is, basically what his stance is, you shouldn't look at a man and, because he's feminine, think that he's gay.”
Barth said his presentation was inspired by the bigotry he's faced. Students have bullied him, he said, and called him homophobic slurs for much of his life.
“Despite being a feminine person, I am still a man and that's what I am,” he said. “That's what I discovered through doing this.”
Buchan said her son has been accepted into the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“He's just a great kid. He's always been somebody who is everybody's friend and has very strong beliefs about things.”
Blanford-Green said Barth can keep the Class C-1 title. Judges did not find the content out of bounds for the contest, which is sponsored by the association.
But Barth was initially told to choose a different poem to perform for the “Best of the Best'' broadcast on Nebraska Educational Television before the NSAA changed its decision.
“We don't want to use a showcase for the Best of the Best to promote personal agendas,” she said.
Blanford-Green said it's appropriate for students competing at the state contest to explore social issues.
Deb Velder, the contest director, said Blanford-Green made the original decision to ask Barth to prepare a different speech.
The recording session for the broadcast is scheduled for 1 p.m. today. All nine NSAA speaking events will be showcased, 14 students in all.
Barth was selected from among poetry champions in six classes. The show is scheduled to air statewide Easter morning — April 20 — at 9 a.m. CDT on NET1. It also will be available online and will be rebroadcast at a later date on NET2.
Velder said she believed Barth, for the contest, had edited some of the wording from the poem “Swingset,” which in some versions contained profanity. “But the content and the message was still there.”
Kara Acino, speech teacher at Scottsbluff High School, said that she called the NSAA to complain about the original decision and that her calls were met with, “Nebraska isn't ready for the poetry performance.”
Merrell Nelsen, superintendent of Gordon-Rushville Public Schools, described Barth as “an excellent young man.” His district has 710 students in pre-kindergarten through senior high.
Nelsen said he didn't want to discuss whether the topic was appropriate.
“We support Michael. We're very proud of him, think he's done a great job.”
Nelsen said he believes Barth is not advocating one way or another. “He's just talking about not having stereotypes associated with people.”
Barth performed the speech at contests throughout the year without problems, he said.
Velder said she didn't think the controversy would have an effect on what topics students choose for the annual contest.
“If anything, it's going to make local schools and people more aware of the topics that their students are bringing forward, rather than being surprised after the fact,” she said.
World-Herald staff writer Faiz Siddiqui contributed to this report, which includes material from the World-Herald News Service.
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