former 30 locks Actor Maulik Pancholy has been disinvited from an anti-bullying lecture at a Pennsylvania middle school, according to footage from a Cumberland Valley School District public meeting on Monday, April 15.
Pancholy, who is openly gay, was originally scheduled to speak at an anti-bullying rally at Mountain View Middle School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. May 22nd.
But due to concerns about his political activities and what two school board members called his “lifestyle,” he will not attend the middle school. The Cumberland Valley School District voted unanimously to cancel the meeting.
In addition to playing Alec Baldwin's overzealous assistant, 30 locksPancholi also provided the voice of Baljeet. Phineas and Ferb. In addition to his acting credits, Pancholy, 50, also delivers keynote speeches “on the topic of diversity and inclusion,” according to his website.
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“If you look into this guy, he labels himself an activist and he's proud of his lifestyle,” board member Bud Schaffner said at the meeting. I don't think it should be imposed on anyone.”
Another board member, Kelly Pottiger, shared concerns that actors would discuss children's books. the best technology, which follows a gay Indian-American boy. “It doesn't discriminate against his lifestyle. It's his choice,” Pottiger said. “But he's the one talking about it.”
Schaffner also told TODAY.com that he was concerned that speakers would go “off script” by talking about politics, adding that “politically motivated discussions take place in the home, not in the classroom. It's a thing,” he added.
“Several board members visited his website, and what stuck with all of us was that he was a political activist,” Schaffner said.
Cumberland Valley School District spokeswoman Tracy Panzer also told TODAY.com that Pancholy's visit was not originally on the agenda of the meeting. She explained that one of the board members made a motion to rescind his invitation, and the board voted unanimously to cancel his presentation.
After the rally, Trisha Comstock, a former Mountain View Middle School parent, started a petition on Change.org to “challenge this narrative by bringing back Maulik Pancholy's rally.”
Moreover, some former students voiced their opposition to the board's decision to cancel Pancholy's appearance.
Brooke Ryerson, a former student and member of the LGBTQ community, said she and her mother plan to attend the next board meeting on May 6 to express their disappointment with the vote. “It was supposed to be a rally about empathy and anti-bullying,” the 16-year-old told TODAY.com. “But for the board it doesn't matter. They are trying in every possible way to silence us.”
Another former student, Tony Conte, shared an open letter to Schaffner on Facebook. He revealed his experiences as a teenager who was secretly gay and revealed that he “thought of suicide at times.”
“If I had heard from diverse voices like (Pancholy) in the auditorium that it was okay to be different, I think my middle school and high school experiences might have been different,” Conte said. he wrote. “This type of presentation could have saved lives, just like my friend's life.”
Jason Laveris/Film Magic
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Representatives for Pancholy School District and Cumberland Valley School District did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for more information Wednesday.
