Academy Award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black was invited, and then quickly uninvited, to speak at an American school – because the openly gay writer is ‘too opinionated’ to educate school students.

Hope College in Holland, Michigan, had invited Black, who was nearby on the set of What’s Wrong With Virginia, to initially speak on screenwriting and participate in a separate roundtable discussion on sexuality.

Local newspaper the Holland Sentinel says that students and English department staff from the Christian liberal arts school had invited Black to talk, but that senior staff said having Black speak was a bad idea.

“We had tried to do that in the late ‘90s, with little success,” Hope College Dean of Students Richard Frost told the Sentinel. “Students and faculty on either side of the campus felt extremely hurt and marginalised. We are willing to do these things, but for the college to do this, we have to be sure it’s educational. It’s back-and-forth and educational. It’s not advocacy.”

The dean’s comments have also sparked comment from local community members. One letter to the Sentinal read: “I think that Hope College should give Black the same chance to talk that it might give an African American, a Muslim, a Baptist or a Jew. Perhaps I presume here but all of us are members of minorities — it all depends on how you slice the pie. I understand that Hope is a religious college but I fail to understand why its authorities find Mr. Black unacceptable; he is certainly not unacceptable in the eyes of God.”

Black is said to be surprised by the commotion his proposed visit caused. Raised a Mormon himself, Black told the Sentinel “When I do live speaking tours, I’m all about reconciliation between the gay community and the religious community.” Students of Hope College also held a rally, protesting the decision to not allow Black to speak.

Black’s talk will go ahead, “I think the only controversy I knew of is I haven’t given them a date yet,” said Black, but only as long as he speaks on anything except sexuality.

“They have a class that deals with screenwriting, and so there’s a natural tie in. That would be an appropriate thing to talk about,” said Dean Richard Frost of Black’s film making knowledge. “If there’s a political science class about elections, or politics, or how you do grassroots movement, how you do political organising, how you do political campaigns, [that] would be a great thing for him to talk about as well, because [Milk] has parts of those things in it,” said Frost

Frost told the Hope College newspaper that a roundtable about sexuality would still take place, but with speakers who are less ‘polarising’. Frost said that strong advocacy for one side of a debate created ‘chasms’ and “only creates larger differences between people. It doesn’t bridge to heal. It bridges to divide.”