School Newspaper, Journalism Program Eliminated After LGBTQ Coverage

A school journalism program and newspaper in Nebraska were canceled in May, 54 years since being launched, following the newspaper's coverage of LGBTQ+ issues and information about Pride Month.

Northwest Public Schools administrators in Grand Island ended the program after the school newspaper published its end-of-year issue that included student editorials on LGBTQ+ related topics, The Grand Island Independent reported.

The June issue also included an article titled "Pride and Prejudice: LGBTQIA+" that addressed the history of homophobia and the origins of Pride Month.

The school board hasn't publicly announced the reason behind eliminating the journalism program, local news station KLKN-TV reported.

No details were revealed about whether this suspension is temporary or whether the program was canceled due to LGBTQ+ coverage or for another reason.

However, according to The Grand Island Independent, the vice president of the Northwest Public Schools board, Zach Mader, previously said: "I do think there have been talks of doing away with our newspaper if we were not going to be able to control content that we saw (as) inappropriate."

"The very last issue that came out this year, there was...a little bit of hostility amongst some," he said, according to the news outlet. "There were editorials that were essentially, I guess what I would say, LGBTQ."

The program's staff and students were informed about the program's cancellation three days after the June issue was printed on May 16, The Grand Island Independent reported.

The school newspaper was targeted previously in April after it published writers' preferred names and pronouns in bylines and articles. School district administrators reportedly required students to use only birth names.

Sara Rips, the LGBTQIA+ legal and policy counsel for the ACLU of Nebraska, said that such decisions affect how students think and grow, according to KLKN.

"It is so important that students are encouraged to think and grow and learn. And when those opportunities are stifled, especially when people are doing it because they don't like LGBTQ people, it's really, really a sad day for journalism in our state," she said.

Rips also noted that schools can't discriminate against the views they disagree with, adding that the school board decided to cancel the program based on its views of the content published in the school newspaper.

She urged students in the program to push back against this decision and "reach out to organizations, including the media."

"Being a student journalist is an honor and a privilege, and there are so many people in all walks of life that were student journalists, and these stories resonate with them. Share these stories. Do not just let it happen," she said to KLKN.

Newsweek reached out to the vice president of the Northwest Public Schools board of education, Zach Mader, and to school district Superintendent Jeffrey Edwards for comments.