<div dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-e260ac57-420d-6e15-3dce-acabc8b148fe"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">For Immediate Release</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:bold;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Facing Political Pressure, USC Upstate Bans Lesbian Play:</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:bold;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Butchy McDyke, Motivational Speaker and Expert Lesbian, Responds </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">April 8, 2014</span></p><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Spartanburg, SC--</span></p><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“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 </span><a href="http://www.howtobealesbianin10daysorless.com" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">How to be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">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 </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/09/politics/university-budget-cuts-gay-literature-south-carolina/" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">threats of budget cuts</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, the latest in </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/07/mike-fair-gay-comments_n_5104341.html?utm_hp_ref=college&ir=College" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">a series of measures</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> by the South Carolina State legislature to cut funding to academic and extracurricular programs that deal openly with LGBTQ issues.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">State Senator Kevin Bryant, who sits on the Senate budget committee, discussed plans to </span><a href="http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/04/3368501/usc-upstate-facing-more-cuts-over.html" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">slash USC Upstate's funding</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> 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." </span><a href="http://www.wyff4.com/news/controversy-continues-over-gaythemed-material-at-upstate-university/25350080#ixzz2yGS3vRLK" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">State Senator Mike Fair said of homosexuality</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(51,51,51);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, “</span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">It's just not normal,” and called the scheduled performance at USC Upstate “a glorification of same sex orientation.”</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">How to be a Lesbian in Ten Days or Less, w</span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">ritten and performed by </span><a href="http://www.leighhendrix.com" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Leigh Hendrix</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, 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.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">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 alik</span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">e. 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.” </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Hendrix's play was scheduled to open the annual </span><a href="https://www.uscupstate.edu/bodiesofknowledge/" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Bodies of Knowledge conference</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> at USC Upstate until </span><a href="http://www.brennerbrief.com/university-of-south-carolina-upstate-to-teach-students-how-to-be-a-lesbian-in-10-days-or-less/" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">conservative bloggers decried</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> the performance, believing it to be a seminar earnestly intended to </span><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=5521" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">teach students how to be lesbians</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Today, Hendrix’s performance alter-ego, Butchy McDyke, responded to the uproar in a video entitled “</span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHJQEiHYk9c">Butchy McDyke Responds to Censorship</a></span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">.” In it, McDyke argues, “Personal change and </span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">transformation [... is] hard. And it’s nice to have a tall, attractive, confident woman in a well-cut blazer help you navigate that.” </span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(51,51,51);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span></p>
<br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(51,51,51);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(51,51,51);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Watch Butchy’s response at: <a href="http://howtobealesbianin10daysorless.com">http://howtobealesbianin10daysorless.com</a>.</span></p>
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<br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(51,51,51);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(51,51,51);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Media contact: </span></p>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(51,51,51);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Leigh Hendrix, </span><a href="mailto:leighhendrix.media@gmail.com" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">leighhendrix.media@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(51,51,51);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, </span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(401) 213 - 9196</span></span><br>
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