A Texas school board made headlines after reversing course and lifting its ban on a transgender student from singing in a lead role in a musical.
The school district in the conservative town of Sherman, Texas, last week stopped a high school production of the musical "Oklahoma!" after a transgender student was cast in a lead role. The district's administrators argued, and told parents, that the school would only allow students "born as females in female roles and students born as males in male roles."
Texas Transgender Rights
This caused several transgender and non-binary students to lose their parts as well as cisgender girls who were cast in male roles. The district publicly said that the main issue was the profane and sexual content of the 1943 musical.
The theater teacher who objected to the decision was at one point escorted out of the school by the principal. Officials also demolished the set, which was a sturdy mock-up of a settler's house that students spent two months building, as per the New York Times.
However, something even more perplexing happened afterward, the school district reversed its decision in a late-night vote on Monday. The school board unanimously voted to restore the original casting and the decision rebuked efforts to bring the fight over transgender participation in student activities into the world of theater.
The restriction of the district was considered to be exceptional as fights have erupted over the kinds of plays that students can present. However, there are only a few, if any, school districts that appeared to have tried to restrict gender roles in theater.
The National Conference of State Legislatures argued that while legislatures across the United States have adopted laws restricting transgender students' participation in sports, no such legislation has been introduced to restrict theater roles.
The transgender student in question was identified as Max Hightower who loved theater ever since he watched the musical "Hamilton." He was cast into the role of Ali Hakim, the Persian peddler in the show, according to USA Today.
Lead Role in a Musical
On top of recasting the original people into the roles of the musical, the school board also announced that it would produce an "age-appropriate" version of the play. There are two versions of Oklahoma! that are available from a firm that holds the licensing rights.
These are the original and a "youth" version that was billed as an "adaptation for pre-high school students. It was said to have content that was edited to better suit younger attention spans and the role that Max has was simply named "The Peddler" in that version.
Board member Wendy Vellotti was the one who put forward the motion to reinstate the original casting of the musical. One of the people who took to the stand in the meeting on Monday was Phillip Hightower, Max's father.
In a statement, he said that the decision by Sherman ISD Superintendent Dr. Tyson Bennett was ultimately made without the school board's input. He argued that it crushed all of the young kids who were part of the musical, said KCRG.
