TX school bans trans boy from playing "Oklahoma!" male lead, recasts with cisgender male student

People playing genders they're not assigned at birth? In theater?!?

😮

This happened in Sherman TX, a city most famous for the Lynching of George Hughes and subsequent riot in 1930, commonly known as the Sherman Riot.

I was tempted to say, "New century, new target of bigotry," but who am I kidding? They never gave up the old target of bigotry, either.

I'm happy to say that after a whole bunch of people showed up at the school board meeting to speak on Max's behalf the school board fully reinstated the original play and it's actors including Max and issued a formal apology. Special thanks to Grayson Pride for leading the effort. https://www.kxii.com/2023/11/14/sherman-isd-board-trustees-votes-reinstate-original-cast-version-oklahoma/

Shortly after Hightower’s casting, however, the student was replaced when the school’s principal, Scott Johnston, called Hightower’s father about a new gender policy for student performers.

“Actors and actresses could only play a role that was the same gender they were assigned at birth,” Hightower recounted the conversation.

This sounds like the kind of thing a school would do under the Nazis. I wonder why that is.

I haven't seen Oklahoma! but is there a part where the lead whips out their dong and waves it in front of the audience?

If not, who cares what's in their pants?

Because Max identifies as a transgender male, he could no longer be cast as the male lead.

I feel like the easy solution is to identify as a cis male...

It is concerning (but unsurprising) how obsessed conservatives are with childrens genitals.

I feel awful for the involved kids, but look forward to what should be a slam dunk lawsuit.

The cis kid who was cast to replace the trans kid should refuse on principle. the rest of the staff should, too.

Also conservatives can go fuck themselves.

damn, i feel really bad for the kid

They do know that acting is pretending to be someone other than yourself, right?

If Jared Leto (🤮) can win an Oscar for portraying a trans woman despite not being trans, then there is absolutely no reason that a trans boy can't play the male lead of a school play. It's acting.

I hate conservative so much. This is a non issue. If they are the best for the part let them play the part.

You'd think they would ban Oklahoma! in Texas entirely for daring to be about a state other than Texas.

The licensing organization should pull their approval.

This is absolutely against theatre traditions.

I was an angsty theatre kid. I would conspire to ruin every and any play for the remainder of my time at that school.

What’s most interesting to me is how Oklahoma! is an utterly poisonous production from the get-go. Every character is a self-absorbed jerk. Judd Fry asks a girl to a dance who only agrees as a ruse to punish the protagonist, who then literally tries to convince the dude to kill himself. The entire show is fucked up.

Any director who isn’t doing something subversive with the content has their head up their own ass. But hey, it’s Texas. 🙃

transphobia and an adult abusing his position of power to hurt a kid, two berserk buttons in one headline

They should play one of the female lead characters, but as male.

Since the school is so up in arms about their production of Oklahoma, they should switch gears and do a production of Peter Pan. You know, where the lead is a young boy traditionally played by a female actor.

This is going to help with the School Shootings and Child Poverty and Pastors Raping Children!

I was sipping my coffee and looking out the window listening to the song birds, and then I worried about a trans kid in a school play, now I don't have to worry thanks for taking care of that. What is next.....men dressing up as women to play in Shakespearian plays??

They should change it to Seven Brides for Seven Brothers but do it in furry.

Cowards

I was a tech theater kid and if this bull shit happened I would absolutely sabotage every show.

I'd laugh my butt off if somehow Oklahoma got cancelled after that backwards-ass school "reviewed" its suitability or something like they seemed to be threatening to do in that article...and then got replaced by Peter Pan.

Peter Pan with a trans man in the lead would be so damn good.

Well this will fix the various social crises in that country for sure.

Sorry if this is obvious for others, but what's a TX school and cisgender?

Damn, more of this american politics bullshit, leaking into Lemmy as well. Just don't feel very newsworthy for me at the opposite side at the world

They didn’t want a tenor. What can they say?

https://www.shermanisd.net/Domain/518