School board reverses decision to boot trans boy from lead role in musical

The Sherman Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to reverse a Texas superintendent’s arbitrary rule that theater students could only play roles that match their birth sex.

The move was meant to prevent a transgender boy from playing the lead role in an upcoming production of the classic musical Oklahoma! Nearly 20 students lost their roles in the musical due to the decision, mostly because there weren’t enough boys in the school’s theater department to play all of the necessary cowboys.

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“This decision is a much needed reminder that queer Texans belong and we deserve to be heard by our lawmakers.”

Over 65 people spoke before the board before the group revoked the new rule. But, it said, it would require the school to perform a pared-back version of the musical intended for pre-teens and children with “shorter attention spans.”

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“It was brought to the District’s attention that the current production contained mature adult themes, profane language, and sexual content,” an earlier statement from administrators said, announcing the show would be postponed by at least a month. “Unfortunately, all aspects of the production need to be reviewed, including content, stage production/props, and casting to ensure that the production is appropriate for the high school stage.”

The script of the original stage musical does include sexual themes, sexual innuendo, violence, murder, drunkenness, and nonconsensual drugging.

“The students do not need a dumbed-down production; they do not need to audition again,” one parent told the school board, noting that many of the students’ roles would be axed immediately if the trustees forced the high school’s students to perform a version intended for elementary and middle school students.

“Nobody stood up in opposition,” Max Hightower, the targeted teen set to star in the lead role, said, “Nobody did anything, like, hateful against me.”

He added that he was thankful for the support from staff, fellow students, and the wider community.

“I’m hoping that things change for the better.”

In June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed into law a bill that would have criminalized “sexually explicit” performances in the presence of minors, defining such performances as those in which “a male performer [is] exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male.” A federal judge struck down the law in September, ruling that it “impermissibly infringes on the First Amendment and chills free speech.”

Similar laws have been blocked by courts in Florida, Tennessee, and Montana, with critics claiming they amount to bans on drag performances and can also be interpreted as banning transgender people from performing onstage.