Magazine: 2016-08-11 edition (PDF)
By Metro Weekly Contributor
on
August 11, 2016
Matt and Ross Duffer, the co-creators of Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things, are responding to cultural backlash over a much-criticized storyline in which teenage character Will Byers comes out as gay.
The penultimate episode, "The Bridge," earned the lowest IMDb score and the harshest audience reaction of any episode across the series’ five seasons. Many fans criticized the episode -- particularly Will’s coming-out storyline -- for sloppy writing, uneven performances, cheesy sentimentality, and its timing within the episode.
The city of St. Petersburg has installed 11 rainbow-colored bike racks in response to the removal of several street murals -- including a Pride-themed mural -- by the Florida Department of Transportation.
The racks were installed in the Grand Central District at Central Avenue and 25th Street, the former location of one of five murals removed at the direction of federal and state authorities.
The mural at Central Avenue and 25th Street featured colored stripes representing the progressive Pride flag and was located just steps from Ride'em Cowboy, one of the city’s best-known LGBTQ nightclubs and a "safe space" for the community, according to Florida Politics.
After Texas A&M University barred philosophy professor Dr. Martin Peterson from teaching parts of Plato’s Symposium involving same-sex love, he replaced the censored lessons with lectures on free speech and academic freedom, using coverage of the university’s own actions as course material.
Peterson teaches the introductory philosophy course "Contemporary Moral Problems." He was told he would have to remove the Plato readings under new Texas A&M University policies restricting course content that references sexual orientation or gender identity.
