Two hours before the Emmy- and Grammy-award-winning a cappella group The King’s Singers were scheduled to take the stage Saturday night, a self-proclaimed “christian” college in Florida canceled the British sextet’s performance because at least one of the group’s members is gay, the Pensacola News Journal reports.
Even though the group had performed at the school at least a half dozen times, Pensacola Christian College canceled Saturday’s show citing concerns about “lifestyle” issues, a condescending way homophobes refer to LGBTQ people because they think being non-heterosexual is a choice one can decide not to pursue. Apparently, school officials were concerned that the group was going to do more than sing on stage, perhaps demonstrating actual homosexual activity or debut a gay recruiting drive. Perhaps they were scared that the gayness would waft over the audience and infect them.
“We were deeply saddened that our concert at Pensacola Christian College was cancelled at two hours’ notice on Saturday February 11th,” the group said in a statement posted to Facebook. “The school gave its reasons for cancellation as ‘concerns’ expressed about the ‘lifestyle” of members of our group. It has become clear to us, from a flood of correspondence from students and members of the public, that these concerns related to the sexuality of members of our group. We have performed at Pensacola Christian College before and we entered into the engagement in the knowledge that this is a fundamentalist Christian institution. Our belief is that music can build a common language that allows people with different views and perspectives to come together.”