Nebraska High School Shuts Down Newspaper Following LGBTQ Edition

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A high school newspaper in Nebraska was shut down for an LGBTQ edition.

Northwest High School’s Viking Saga was shuttered by school administrators after 54 years following the release of its June issue, which was printed on May 16. That edition published “student editorials on LGBTQ topics, along with a news article titled, ‘Pride and prejudice: LGBTQIA+’ on the origins of Pride Month and the history of homophobia,” reported The Grand Island Independent.

“The very last issue that came out this year, there was… a little bit of hostility amongst some,” Northwest Public Schools Board Vice President Zach Mader told The Grand Island Independent. “There were editorials that were essentially, I guess what I would say, LGBTQ.”

District officials have refused to say why the newspaper was abolished and when the decision to do so was precisely made.

According to The Grand Island Independent:

On Sunday, May 22, a Northwest School District employee emailed the Grand Island Independent press and advertising teams to cancel the company’s Northwest Viking Saga printing services. Notification of staff and students of the program’s elimination came May 19, according to the employee. The June issue was printed on May 16.

The Northwest employee said in the email they were informed “the (journalism and newspaper) program was cut because the school board and superintendent are unhappy with the last issue’s editorial content.”

The Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union blasted the move.

“It sounds like a ham-fisted attempt to censor students and discriminate based on disagreement with perspectives and articles that were featured in the student newspaper,” Sara Rips, an attorney for the branch, told The Grand Island Independent.