Sherman school officials put trans student at center of real-life drama over “Oklahoma!” production

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Max Hightower was once addicted to theater after gazing the musical “Hamilton.” Then simply 13, he begged his circle of relatives to rewatch it in an instant. Soon, he began each and every morning taking note of the soundtrack.

“I was like, ‘Oh my god, you can sing in a play, that’s insane,’” stated Max, who was once already an energetic choir singer.

So, when Max, who’s now a prime school senior, was once solid in a supporting position together with his personal solo within the Sherman High School production of “Oklahoma!” — a quintessential American musical about love and statehood — he threw himself into the production.

But now it’s unclear whether or not Max, who’s transgender, gets to sing as Ali Hakim, the Persian peddler. Through a whiplash of unexpected coverage adjustments concerning the gender of performers and public hand-wringing concerning the respected American musical’s content material, Sherman school officials have successfully solid Max because the lead in an excessively other drama taking part in out in actual existence. It’s extra comparable to the civil rights struggle of “Hairspray” than the affection triangle in “Oklahoma!”

After Max was once bumped from the refrain to the supporting position, the school pulled apart him and a number of other of his fellow student thespians. High school directors instructed scholars one-by-one the play could be postponed and recast, and that scholars may most effective play roles that fit their intercourse assigned at beginning.

After the preliminary choice garnered local and national headlines, the district on Friday recanted the gender coverage. But the district additionally introduced the school will now produce an “age appropriate” model of the play.

Only two variations of “Oklahoma!” are to be had from a company that holds the licensing rights: the unique and a “youth” model billed as an “adaptation for pre-high school students” that has content material “edited to better suit younger attention spans.” In that model, the nature Max was once prior to now solid to play is now indexed simply as “The Peddler.” The run time of the display is one hour, in comparison to the unique’s two-hour duration.

“I think it’s insulting, I think it’s still targeting Max, I think they chose the version that would have Max in it the least,” stated Amy Hightower, Max’s mother.

The waffling about transgender scholars’ participation in a musical is the most recent wrinkle in a countrywide debate over trans rights, particularly in public colleges.

The fights, that have performed out in school board assembly rooms and statehouses around the U.S., have in large part taken with books in school libraries, get right of entry to to restrooms and participation in sports activities. But Texas lawmakers previous this yr additionally banned trans children from getting access to puberty blockers and hormone treatment that main scientific teams have OK’d for youngsters.

In Texas, choices by way of school districts to enact strict gender insurance policies and evaluate the books to be had to scholars have made nationwide headlines, together with a brand new documentary podcast concerning the suburban Grapevine school district. Max’s circle of relatives worries Sherman ISD’s dealing with of “Oklahoma!” has driven the district in that route.

“I didn’t want us to be that,” Max’s father Phillip Hightower stated. “I wanted us to show that we could stay somewhat progressive and look out for the needs of every kid.”

Sherman ISD, which has a student inhabitants of about 7,800, didn’t make any directors to be had for remark, and the school board has no longer voted on any laws about student-performers’ gender assigned at beginning.

One remark from the Sherman school district stated “Oklahoma!” featured “mature adult themes, profane language, and sexual content.” Still, the display has been a staple production in prime school theater departments for many years. That previous remark additionally stated that the coverage about performers’ gender wouldn’t essentially be carried out to long run presentations.

“Sherman ISD values the diversity of our students and staff and knows this has been an especially difficult time for many of our students,” stated a Friday remark from the district. “The circumstances revealed the need to implement a more formal review process for theatrical productions and scripts. Moving forward, the District will have a tighter review and approval process, and we apologize that this was not already in place.”

But that’s performed little to soothe Max’s oldsters.

“The superintendent and the administration is attempting to deflect blame,” Phillip Hightower stated. “To deflect blame to the theater division, to the theater director, hell, I assume even to the school board that authorized this a yr and a part in the past. Their non-apology sickens me.”

Centuries of inventive priority

LGBTQ+ activists and legal professionals consider the Sherman district’s preliminary choice about gender in casting choices is the primary of its type to intervene on arts. Theater, specifically, has a centuries outdated custom of bending gender roles. Shakespeare automatically solid males in feminine roles.

Max’s gender id has no longer been a secret. He got here out to his buddies as trans within the 8th grade, and to his oldsters a yr later. Barring some bullying and low misused pronouns, he’s handled like another twelfth grader.

So when Max was once instructed he may now not famous person in his new position, he was once taken totally off-guard.

“I know it’s Texas, I know where we live, but not my school,” Max stated. “There were so many queer kids in Sherman High school, I was like, ‘They wouldn’t pass something like that because they knew how bad that would get.’”

Max was once no longer the one student whose beginning gender didn’t align with their position within the play, nor the one trans student concerned. The school had a scarcity of male actors, and such a lot of scholars, trans and cisgender alike, had misplaced the chance to play portions they sought after.

The now-abandoned coverage is assumed to be the primary try within the state to limit theater productions in response to intercourse, however equivalent instances have took place. In Fort Worth, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against a charter school after it created a coverage declaring scholars may most effective sign up for choirs in response to their assigned gender at beginning.

Brian Klosterboer, ACLU legal professional and chair of the LGBT Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, referred to as Sherman ISD’s brief gender coverage a “very extreme and egregious example” of discrimination and likened it to the lawsuit in Fort Worth.

“This Sherman ISD decision unfortunately is an example of this extreme anti-transgender animus that we are seeing here in Texas and across the country,” Klosterboer stated.

Klosterboer and Equality Texas communications director Johnathan Gooch each asserted that Sherman ISD’s rolled-back coverage looked to be a transparent violation of Title IX, the civil rights legislation prohibiting discrimination in response to gender. In 2021, the Department of Education released a notice explaining that discrimination in response to gender id would violate Title IX.

Misconceptions about Texans’ acceptance

Gooch stated the Sherman coverage does no longer replicate what many Texans need from school leaders. Seventy-five % of Texans enhance LGBTQ+ non-discrimination rules, in step with the Public Religion Research Institute.

“I think there are some misconceptions about what Texans generally want and expect from their school boards and their community leaders,” Gooch stated.

In a rural town of 46,000 nearly 70 miles north of Dallas, sympathy for LGBTQ+ problems in Sherman gave the impression sparse to the Hightowers — however no longer inconceivable. Amy, who’s from Howe, felt that the fast-growing town is usually a higher position for Max than extra rural spaces within sight. Phillip concept the group may develop into what they wanted.

Valerie Fox, founder of native LGBTQ+ nonprofit Grayson Pride, stated the town is extra accepting than apparently, however concern of public backlash prevents allyship from changing into public.

“We can get a lot of secret support, so we can get some money if we need to in a pinch,” Fox stated. “They’ll donate it to us, but they don’t want to be on a sponsor banner. They don’t want anyone to know.”

Fox began Grayson Pride as a result of one of her youngsters is homosexual, and didn’t see enhance for LGBTQ+ identities in Sherman. She stated since she began the nonprofit 4 years in the past, attendance has quadrupled.

The Hightowers have regarded as transferring out of state to the place Max’s siblings reside and the place there’s much less worry over how Max could be handled, however it’s no simple selection.

“I don’t really want to move away from here,” Phillip stated. “I want to change here.”

Max’s oldsters had saved his transition non-public even from some members of the family out of worry and concern, however after the district took away their kid’s pivotal position, they went to Facebook and posted publicly concerning the revel in. The reaction, they stated, has been overwhelmingly and abruptly supportive.

“If I’d have known that we had all of the support and all those resources, we would have reached out so long ago,” Amy stated.

Grayson Pride and a number of other group individuals are making plans on attending Sherman ISD’s Monday school board assembly. The play’s postponement isn’t at the assembly’s reputable time table.

After native broadcast station KXII reported at the play’s postponement, Max stated the ambience at school has totally shifted. Students apply him round and feature referred to as him transphobic names. His oldsters pulled him from school and opted to stick in a resort for the later phase of the week.

“People were trying to follow me to the bathroom to see which one I’d go into,” Max stated.

Gooch says insurance policies like the only in Sherman ISD no longer most effective violate Title IX but in addition create a antagonistic atmosphere that allows additional discrimination. Eighty-six % of LGBTQ formative years really feel that fresh political dialogue has negatively impacted their well-being, in step with a report from the Trevor Project.

Disclosure: Equality Texas, Facebook and State Bar of Texas were monetary supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group this is funded partially by way of donations from individuals, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Find a whole list of them here.