[IMC] Facing Political Pressure, USC Upstate Bans Lesbian Play: Butchy McDyke Responds

[Leigh Hendrix]

For Immediate Release

Facing Political Pressure, USC Upstate Bans Lesbian Play:

Butchy McDyke, Motivational Speaker and Expert Lesbian, Responds

April 8, 2014

Spartanburg, SC--

"How many of you want to be a lady with a lot more lady in your life?" asks
the character Butchy McDyke in the Leigh Hendrix's play How to be a Lesbian
in 10 Days or Less <http://www.howtobealesbianin10daysorless.com>.

Evidently, South Carolina lawmakers want a lot less lady in their lives--
and in the lives of college students in the state. Last week, the
University of South Carolina Upstate cancelled a performance of the play
after facing political pressure from state senators and threats of budget
cuts<http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/09/politics/university-budget-cuts-gay-literature-south-carolina/>,
the latest in a series of
measures<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/07/mike-fair-gay-comments_n_5104341.html?utm_hp_ref=college&ir=College>by
the South Carolina State legislature to cut funding to academic and
extracurricular programs that deal openly with LGBTQ issues.

State Senator Kevin Bryant, who sits on the Senate budget committee,
discussed plans to slash USC Upstate's
funding<http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/04/3368501/usc-upstate-facing-more-cuts-over.html>in
future years. Bryant announced, "If they've got extra money sitting
around to promote perversion, obviously they've got more money than they
really need." State Senator Mike Fair said of
homosexuality<http://www.wyff4.com/news/controversy-continues-over-gaythemed-material-at-upstate-university/25350080#ixzz2yGS3vRLK>,
"It's just not normal," and called the scheduled performance at USC Upstate
"a glorification of same sex orientation."

How to be a Lesbian in Ten Days or Less, written and performed by Leigh
Hendrix <http://www.leighhendrix.com>, is a comedic story about coming out
as a lesbian and an artist. The play follows three lesbian characters,
including motivational speaker Butchy McDyke, who promises to help audience
members realize their "best lesbian lives" through a ten-day crash course
on such hot button topics as determining one's best lesbian haircut and
crafting an effective and affective coming out narrative.

Hendrix has performed the play in her home state of South Carolina as well
as at theaters and festivals from Louisiana to Rhode Island. She explains
that while the play has failed to recruit more lesbians, it does speak to
lesbians and non-lesbians alike. Hendrix expressed surprise at the uproar
over a play that celebrates LGBTQ visibility: "I've never had a response to
the play be so extreme. It turns out a show that is simply about finding
and using your voice is actually a pretty radical thing."

Hendrix's play was scheduled to open the annual Bodies of Knowledge
conference <https://www.uscupstate.edu/bodiesofknowledge/> at USC Upstate
until conservative bloggers
decried<http://www.brennerbrief.com/university-of-south-carolina-upstate-to-teach-students-how-to-be-a-lesbian-in-10-days-or-less/>the
performance, believing it to be a seminar earnestly intended to teach
students how to be lesbians <https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=5521>.

Today, Hendrix's performance alter-ego, Butchy McDyke, responded to the
uproar in a video entitled "Butchy McDyke Responds to
Censorship<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHJQEiHYk9c>."
In it, McDyke argues, "Personal change and transformation [... is] hard.
And it's nice to have a tall, attractive, confident woman in a well-cut
blazer help you navigate that."

Watch Butchy's response at: http://howtobealesbianin10daysorless.com.

##

Media contact:
Leigh Hendrix, leighhendrix.media at gmail.com, (401) 213 - 9196
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