This happened in Sherman TX, a town 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.
Some of the very first people that the Brownshirts went after was transpeople, even completely destroying an institute that was studying gender in the 30’s.
It’s not like the people involved in that lynching felt bad about it or regretted it. And then they passed that hate to their children who passed it on to their own children. Those people were the grandparents and great-grandparents of these kids. Some of them are still alive and still preaching their hate to the kid. Some of them were alive long enough to do it before they died.
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?
Also, prosthetic dongs are a thing, if you prefer to keep the original vision of Oklahoma! intact.
Wow, I guess the movie really deviated from the source material.
Also, did they verify the new lead is cis? I know a lot of people who have been in theater, there is a surprisingly large percent who aren’t cis.
Right? If you’re gonna try to get all the queer kids out of theater you’re gonna have a really hard time.
Name literally one actor or theatre person who is gay!?
Pshh. Can’t be done.
You dont remember the classic line
“Ooooooooklamohma where my jizz coms seeping down my pants!”
They could have wrote that in. My junior high plays were always just slightly different from the originals. 🤷🏻♂️
Texas, apparently…
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/
Thanks for the update!
No problem!
Just want to point out that this statement makes it very clear that the original decision was reactionary discrimination against a minority in the first place.
Following the closed meeting, a board member, Wendy Vellotti, put forward the motion to reinstate the original version and cast of the production as it was before the gender rule was created.
Edit: The school board is now launching an investigation into the actions of the superintendent.
https://www.kxii.com/2023/11/14/sherman-isd-board-trustees-discuss-superintendent-position/
They need to investigate him. There are images circulating of him harassing parents who spoke ill of him about the situation. Another board member was shown to be protesting the local pride problem that was held, yelling at children and taunting them.
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.
These people would loose their mind if they ever saw a traditional British Christmas Pantomime
“Actors and actresses could only play a role that was the same gender they were assigned at birth,” Hightower recounted the conversation.
These people are so fucking clueless. Men playing women in theatre is literally as old as theatre because women literally weren’t allowed to.
Also how that spits in the face of theatrical performances dating at least back to Shakespeare’s time, if not further.
I never studied that stuff, but I did date a drama major back in the day.
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.
You must cover your genitals at all times! But your coverings must clearly indicate which genitals you have! No one may see your genitals, but everyone needs to be clearly informed of your genitals at all times.
Also the gential signaling coves change over time, but wearing the wrong coverings in the wrong time period is unnatural and makes God mad!
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. 🙃
Eh. Just sounds like normal low-brow shit to me.
Low brow writers feel compelled to make things as clear and obvious as possible for their dim-witted audiences.
It’s simple. It’s straightforward. Everyone can understand what is going on without much thought.
I don’t really think it’s bad for that, just is what it is.
Any director who isn’t doing something subversive with the content has their head up their own ass.
Its a school musical dude, calm down. If you want a subversive and thoughtful performance then don’t go to a school production.
Oklahoma isn’t “poisonous” its just weird. But, its fun for high school students to perform, and that’s all it has to be. The purpose of a musical theater program in a school isn’t to impress you with complex well written narratives, its to provide the students with an experience they wouldn’t get otherwise.
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.
As a former theater kid (and queer person) this is close to the right answer. The cis replacement should show up on day 1 and do the most over the top, flaming, fabulous Curly the world has ever seen.
The world is large. This gender identity stuff is just a speck, relatively speaking. Get some perspective.
Just because it doesn’t have an effect on you personally doesn’t mean it’s a speck. Other human beings exist and have feelings. Maybe stop being a narcissist.
Insisting that everybody takes your hobby seriously seems rather warped. It isn’t that we don’t like you. It’s just that we don’t take your hobby seriously.
You’re right, it is a speck, so why the fuck is the school board singling out a child to punish over something completely insignificant? Do you think that child is going to grow up with a strong respect for authority, knowing that they will ruin their prospects over trivial bullshit?
Do you think that a strong respect for authority is something that we want to instill in children?
What are you even trying to communicate here?
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.
Are you talking about Dallas buyers club or something else? I’m neither hip nor with it.
I feel awful for the involved kids, but look forward to what should be a slam dunk lawsuit.
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.
Or any Shakespeare where all of the characters are traditionally played by men.
This is going to help with the School Shootings and Child Poverty and Pastors Raping Children!
transphobia and an adult abusing his position of power to hurt a kid, two berserk buttons in one headline
They should change it to Seven Brides for Seven Brothers but do it in furry.
I would sponsor a fur suit if this happened.
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??
LOL at MAGA trying to co-opt musical theater
