COLUMBIA — South Carolina legislators want to punish two public colleges for assigning books on homosexuality to freshmen.
The House budget-writing committee on Wednesday tentatively approved a spending plan for 2014-15 that would cut $52,000 from the College of Charleston and $17,142 from the University of South Carolina Upstate.
Last summer, the College of Charleston assigned the Alison Bechdel book, “Fun Home,” to incoming freshmen. Bechdel’s book describes her childhood with a closeted homosexual father and her own coming out as a lesbian.
USC Upstate assigned “Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio,” referring to South Carolina’s first gay and lesbian radio show, for a required course for all freshmen, which included lectures and other out-of-classroom activities meant to spark discussions about the book. Social conservatives complained about the colleges’ selections.