Max Hightower developed a passion for theatre after seeing the music” Hamilton.” He begged his relatives to watch it again right away when he was only 13 years old. He immediately began listening to the music every night.
Max, who was already an accomplished singing song, remarked,” Oh my god, you can speak in a sing, that’s crazy.
Therefore, when Max, a high school senior then, was cast in the Sherman, Texas, High School generation of” Oklahoma,” he played the supporting role with his own solo! He threw himself into the production of a uniquely American music about passion and sovereignty.
However, it is currently unknown if Max, a transsexual man, will be cast as the Iranian peddler Ali Hakim. Sherman school officials have essentially cast Max as the result in a very different crisis that is taking place in real life due to an uproar of immediate policy changes regarding the gender of performers and public hand-wringing over the content of the revered American musical. It’s more akin to the” Hairspray” civil rights battle than the love triangle in” Oklahoma”!
Max and a few of his own undergraduate thespians were dismissed by the school after he was demoted from the choir to the supporting role. The play may be delayed and recast, and students may only perform roles that matched the sex that was assigned to them at birth, high school administrators told each student one by one.
The district revoked the gender policy on Friday after the first decision received both local and national attention. However, the district also declared that the play would now be produced by the school in an “age ideal” version.
There are only two iterations of” Oklahoma”! are offered from a company that is in possession of the licence rights: the initial and the “youth” type, which is billed as an “adaptation for pre-high school students” and has content that has been “edited to better match younger attention spans.” Max, who was previously cast to play the role, is now simply referred to as” The Peddler” in that version. In contrast to the original, which lasted two hours, the display only lasts one minute.
It’s demeaning, in my opinion. I believe Max is still the target. According to Max’s mother Amy Hightower,” I believe they chose the type that would include Max in it the least.”
The latest development in a national discussion of trans rights, particularly in public schools, is the controversy surrounding transgender students ‘ participation in musicals.
The battles, which have taken place in statehouses and school board meeting rooms all over the United States, have primarily been about exposure to athletic equipment and books in school libraries. However, Texas legislators also forbade trans children from using hormone therapy and puberty blockers that top health organizations had approved for children earlier this year.
A new film podcast about the residential Grapevine school district was among the national headlines in Texas as a result of school districts ‘ decisions to examine the books offered to students and enact rigid gender policies. Max’s home is concerned about Sherman ISD handling” Oklahoma”! has pushed the neighborhood in that direction.
Phillip Hightower, Max’s father, said,” I did n’t want us to be that.” ” I wanted us to demonstrate our ability to maintain a certain level of progress and consider every child’s wants.”
The school committee has not voted on any laws regarding student players ‘ female assigned at birth, and Sherman ISD, which has a student population of about 7,800, did not make any officials available for comment.
” Intelligent child themes”
Oklahoma was mentioned in one statement from the Sherman class area. ” Maturate adult themes, profane language, and sexual content” were featured. However, the production of the show has been a mainstay in high class drama sections for many years. The policy regarding performers ‘ gender would n’t necessarily be applied to future performances, according to that earlier statement.
According to a city statement, Sherman ISD values the diversity of its staff and students and is aware that many of our students have found this to be particularly challenging. The situation made it clear that theatrical productions and codes needed to go through a more formal review process. We regret that this was n’t already in place, but the District will have a stricter review and approval process moving forward.
However, that has n’t done much to placate Max’s parents.
According to Phillip Hightower,” The supervisor and the management are trying to shift the blame.” ” To shift the blame to the theatre division, the chairman, devil, I suppose even the school board that approved this a year and an half before.” Their lack of explanation disgusts me.
decades of precedents in art
The Sherman state’s original decision regarding sex in casting decisions, according to LGBTQ+ activists and attorneys, is the first of its kind to interfere with the arts. Theater in particular has a long history of reshaping female norms. Shakespeare frequently uses people in feminine roles.
Max’s sex identity has never been kept a secret. In the seventh grade, he revealed his trans identity to his companions, and a year later, his parents did the same. He is treated like any other 12th student, with the exception of some abuse and sometimes misused nouns.
Max was therefore completely taken aback when he was informed they had no more star in his new position.
Max remarked,” I am aware that it is Texas and that our home is there, but no my school.” They had n’t go something like that because they knew how terrible that would get.” There were so many queer children in Sherman High class, I was like.
Max was not the only trans student involved in the play whose birth sex did not correspond to their function. Male actors were in short supply at the school, and many students—trans and transgender alike—had missed their chance to enjoy the parts they desired.
Although similar cases have been reported, the now-abandoned plan is thought to be the state’s second attempt to limit theater productions based on gender. A contract school in Fort Worth was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for enacting a rule stating that students could only visit singers based on the gender they were given at birth.
The temporary female policy of Sherman ISD was compared to the Fort Worth lawsuit by Brian Klosterboer, an ACLU attorney and seat of the State Bar of Texas ‘ LGBT Law Section, who described it as a “very extreme and severe example” of discrimination.
However, this Sherman ISD ruling is an illustration of the extreme anti-transgender animus that exists both here in Texas and across the nation, according to Klosterboer.
Sherman ISD’s rolled-back plan appeared to be a clear violation of Title IX, the civil rights law that forbids discrimination based on gender, according to Klosterboer and Equality Texas communications producer Johnathan Gooch. Title IX may be violated, according to a see from the Department of Education that was published in 2021.
Misconceptions
Gooch claimed that some Texans ‘ expectations of college administrators are not met by the Sherman policy. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 75 % of Texasans help LGBTQ+ non-discrimination rules.
Gooch remarked,” I believe there are some misunderstandings about what Texas residents typically want and expect from their school board and society leaders.”
The Hightowers found pity for LGBTQ+ issues in Sherman to be limited, but not difficult, in a remote area of 46, 000 about 70 miles northwest of Dallas. Amy thought Max might prefer the rapidly expanding city to more remote locations outside. Phillip believed that the neighborhood may develop into what they required.
The city is more accepting than it seems, according to Valerie Fox, the chairman of the neighborhood LGBTQ+ volunteer Grayson Pride, but allyship is kept secret out of concern for public backlash.
Fox remarked,” We can get a lot of covert help, so we can obtain some money if we need to in an emergency.” They wo n’t be on a sponsor banner, but they will donate it to us. They do not want anyone to find out.
Because one of her children is gay and Fox did n’t see support for LGBTQ+ identities in Sherman, she founded Grayson Pride. She claimed that since she started the volunteer four years ago, participation has quadrupled.
The Hightowers have thought about leaving the condition to live with Max’s relatives and where there is less worry about how Max will be treated, but it is not an easy decision.
Phillip remarked,” I do n’t really want to move away from here.” ” I want to alter this.”
Out of worry and fear, Max’s families had kept his shift a secret from everyone, including some family members. However, after the region eliminated their child’s crucial role, they made a public Facebook post about it. They claimed that the response has been largely and unexpectedly positive.
We may have gotten in touch but long ago if I had known that we had all the resources and support, Amy said.
Grayson Pride and a number of neighborhood people intend to attend the school board meeting for Sherman ISD on Monday. The meeting’s established plan does not include the postponement of the play.
Max claimed that the environment at school has totally changed after local transmit station KXII reported on the show’s delay. He is followed around by kids, who have disparaged him negatively. His parents excused him from class and decided to spend the rest of the year at a hotel.
Max remarked,” Citizens were attempting to follow me to the restroom to see which one I would enter.”
According to Gooch, procedures like the one in Sherman ISD not only violate Title IX but also foster an environment that encourages more discrimination. According to a report from the Trevor Project, 86 % of LGBTQ youth believe that new political debate has severely impacted their well-being.
The Texas Tribune, a lover of the volunteer States Newsroom system, which includes the Florida Phoenix, published this article before. The Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news firm that receives funding in part from donations from people, foundations, and commercial sponsors. It has received financial support from Facebook, the State Bar of Texas, Equality Texas. The news of the Tribune is not influenced by economic supporters. Here is a record of them all.
