A gay actor’s speech that was canceled over his “lifestyle” is back on at a Pennsylvania school after residents spoke out.
The Cumberland Valley School District’s board voted 5-4 Wednesday night to allow children’s book author Maulik Pancholy, who is gay, to speak against bullying during a May 22 assembly at Mountain View Middle School. The board voted after hearing from residents, including more than a dozen students.
The board on April 15 unanimously canceled Pancholy's talk after a board member cited concerns about what he described as the actor’s activism and “lifestyle.” Some board members also noted the district enacted a policy about not hosting overtly political events after it was criticized for hosting a Donald Trump rally during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Some community members said the cancellation was ill-advised and sent a hurtful message, especially to the LGBTQ+ community, and Superintendent Mark Blanchard and other district leaders sent a letter to the board, faculty and staff asserting that Pancholy’s speech should have been allowed.
The education officials said they were not given “a real opportunity” by the board to answer questions or provide guidance about the event, which they said was aimed at reinforcing the importance of treating all people equally.
Pancholy, 48, is an award-winning actor, including for his roles on the television shows “30 Rock” and “Weeds,” and as the voice of Baljeet in the Disney animated series, “Phineas & Ferb.” He also has written children’s books and in 2014 was named by then-President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, where he co-founded a campaign to combat AAPI bullying.
Pancholy’s appearance was scheduled by the school’s leadership team, which each year selects an author to present a “unique educational experience for students,” according to the district.
At the April 15 meeting, school board members said they did not know what Pancholy would talk about, but one member said he didn’t “want to run the risk” of what it might entail.
“If you research this individual, he labels himself as an activist,” Bud Shaffner said, according to Pennlive. “He is proud of his lifestyle, and I don’t think that should be imposed upon our students, at any age.”
Pancholy is looking forward to seeing the community members who supported him next month and was moved by “every single student who showed immense courage” by speaking out at the board meeting, he said in a statement Thursday.
“Thank you for sharing your powerful messages of love, inclusion, respect, and belonging,” Pancholy wrote.
In a statement posted on social media after the initial board vote, Pancholy had said that as a middle school student he never saw himself represented in stories, and that books featuring South Asian-American or LGBTQ+ characters “didn’t exist.” When he started writing his own novels years later, he was still hard-pressed to find those stories, he said.
“It’s why I wrote my books in the first place,” Pancholy wrote. “Because representation matters.”
Pancholy said his school visits are meant “to let all young people know that they’re seen. To let them know that they matter.”
FILE - Actor Maulik Pancholy attends the premiere of "Trishna" during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival on Friday, April 27, 2012 in New York. The school board has reversed it's decision to cancel an upcoming speech by Pancholy due to concerns about what they described as his activism and “lifestyle.” The board voted 5-4, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, to allow Pancholy to speak at assembly next month where he will speak out against bullying.(AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As Ukraine marked its third Easter at war, Russia on Sunday launched a barrage of drones concentrated in Ukraine’s east, wounding more than a dozen people, and claimed its troops took control of a village they had been targeting.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russia had launched 24 Shahed drones overnight, of which 23 were shot down.
Six people, including a child, were wounded in a drone strike in the eastern Kharkiv region, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Ten more were wounded in an airstrike Sunday afternoon on the Kharkiv regional capital, also called Kharkiv, Syniehubov said, adding the city was attacked by an aerial bomb.
Fires broke out when debris from drones that were shot down fell on buildings in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. No casualties were reported.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced Sunday that its troops had taken control of the village of Ocheretyne, which has been in the crosshairs of Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Drone footage obtained by The Associated press showed the village battered by fighting. Not a single person is seen in the footage obtained late Friday, and no building in Ocheretyne appears to have been left untouched by the fighting.
Officials in Kyiv urged residents to follow Orthodox Easter services online due to safety concerns. Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration, warned that “even on such bright days of celebration, we can expect evil deeds from the aggressor.”
In his Easter address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to be “united in one common prayer.”
In a video filmed in front of Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral, wearing a traditional Vyshyvanka embroidered shirt, Zelenskyy said that God “has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder.” With “such an ally,” Zelenskyy said, “life will definitely win over death.”
A majority of Ukrainians identify as Orthodox Christians, though the church is divided. Many belong to the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church was loyal to the patriarch in Moscow until splitting from Russia after the 2022 invasion and is viewed with suspicion by many Ukrainians.
In Moscow, worshippers including President Vladimir Putin packed Moscow’s landmark Christ the Savior Cathedral late Saturday for a nighttime Easter service led by Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and an outspoken supporter of the Kremlin.
Eastern Orthodox Christians usually celebrate Easter later than Catholic and Protestant churches, because they use a different method of calculating the date for the holy day that marks Christ’s resurrection.
Morton reported from London.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
EDITORS AND LIBRARIANS: KILL FROM YOUR SYSTEMS AND ARCHIVES PHOTO FS110, SLUGGED RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR ORTHODOX EASTER AND TRANSMITTED ON SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2024. THE AUTHORITIES THAT GRANTED ACCESS TO THIS EVENT NOW HAVE CONCERNS OVER THIS ONE FRAME. NO REPLACEMENT PHOTO WILL BE SENT. - Priest Ivan, blesses Ukrainian servicemen of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, during a Christian Orthodox Easter religious service Donetsk region, Ukraine, early Sunday, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Priest Ivan, chaplain of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian army, leads a Christian Orthodox Easter religious service, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Priest Ivan, blesses Ukrainian servicemen of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, during a Christian Orthodox Easter religious service Donetsk region, Ukraine, early Sunday, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Priest Ivan blesses Ukrainian servicemen of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, during a Christian Orthodox Easter religious service, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, early Sunday, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Priest Ivan, chaplain of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian army, lights candles during a Christian Orthodox Easter religious service, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Priest Ivan, chaplain of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian army, leads a Christian Orthodox Easter religious service, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Food are gathered to be blessed during a Christian Orthodox Easter religious service at the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade compound, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, early Sunday, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
An Ukrainian serviceman of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, lights candles during a Christian Orthodox Easter religious service, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
