EDITORIAL:

The rock opera “Rent” is a highly acclaimed drama that has won a Pulitzer and a Tony Award for best musical.

But apparently in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District even a sanitized version of “Rent” might as well be pornography.

We’re not entirely clear what happened when Corona del Mar High School drama teacher Ron Martin planned to stage a “high school version” of “Rent” because school officials have refused for going on a week to answer our requests for comment. Martin said he was told he could not mount the play because of objectionable content.

Could it be the homosexual characters? That’s what many alumni and students think, and they have heaped criticism on Principal Fal Asrani.

Whatever the problem school officials have, they ought to have the courage of their convictions and at least explain themselves.

But we find it hard to believe they could offer a meaningful or coherent argument.

We understand how parents shudder at the thought that their teenagers are sexually aware, but we ought to remember far back enough to realize we always knew more than our parents suspected or wanted to believe. In other words, you can’t keep them in a cocoon forever, and it’s foolish to even try.

Furthermore, we find it highly laudable that Martin’s inspiration for staging the show was to address the issue of homophobia on campus. Whatever your views on homosexuality, we can all agree prejudice and bigotry are wrong, and any attempt to confront discrimination is noble.