IzzyzzieNov 8, 2023
Ami Angelwings

"People can only play roles of their birth assigned sex" is not something that even traditional theatre has ever done historically

https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/4297925-trans-student-texas-kicked-out-of-lead-role-musical/

Trans student in Texas kicked out of lead role in high school musical

A transgender student in Texas lost a leading role in his high school’s upcoming musical due to a new policy established by the school’s administration. Sherman High School senior Max Hightower landed the lead role in “Oklahoma!” last month, his father, Phillip Hightower, told local CBS affiliate KXII. Then the principal called to inform him…

The Hill
Nov 8, 2023 at 5:27amWeb
Show threadAmi AngelwingsNov 8, 2023

"In a statement issued to LGBTQ media outlet Blade, the Sherman Independent School District (SISD) said there is no blanket policy on how students should be assigned to their roles.

“As it relates to this particular production, the sex of the role as identified in the script will be used when casting. Because the nature and subject matter of productions vary, the District is not inclined to apply this criteria to all future productions,” it said."

Wow so they basically admit that this isn't even a policy that they can reasonably or want to enforce across all productions, it's targeted very specifically for this one trans student.

Show threadAmi AngelwingsNov 9, 2023

follow up: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/transgender-student-texas-high-school-theater_n_654c27eae4b0ea0b7f959864

TWELVE students (including cis ones) in the play were cut because "their sex assigned at birth did not match the sex or gender presentation of the roles in which they were cast"!?

again this is not even a thing you can claim is traditional or historical in theatre -_-

Several Students Were Kicked Out Of A School Play — All Over Their Gender Identity

“We just had this giant cry sesh outside of the choir room,” Max Hightower said.

HuffPost
Show threadAmi AngelwingsNov 9, 2023
on top of the transphobia and increasing obsessive cultural need to pigeon-hole students into gender, I suspect this is also not wanting a hint of homosexuality in the play given that Oklahoma is about romance, and even if the roles are heterosexual, the school is probably like "but if two people of the same gender play opposite each other it'll LOOK GAY"
Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulNov 9, 2023
@ami_angelwings it's really odd to me how so many binary gender fanatics love to accuse others of "making their gender as their entire personality", meanwhile it's as if these peoples' entire life worth is about enforcing cis binary gender about things that literally no one enforced until like, before Rowling and Linehan started to endlessly RT each other.
Show threadAllan ChowNov 9, 2023
@ami_angelwings good fucking lord. Parents are fucking crazy.
Show threadSouprMattNov 9, 2023
@grumpasaurus @ami_angelwings There are always crazy parents. But the school should have told them to F off. Gender-bending roles go at least back to Shakespeare, and are a well-known part of the theater. Banning such roles basically kills the theater department entirely.
Show threadAllan ChowNov 10, 2023
@mls14 @ami_angelwings Like these parents don't remember their childhoods? They're my age, from christ's sake.
Show threadchiasmNov 9, 2023
@ami_angelwings Texas. Sigh. 😔 Ridiculous.
Show threadJason Petersen (he)Nov 10, 2023
@ami_angelwings in case you want, here is the URL without that weird Canada yahoo sports wrapper: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/transgender-student-texas-high-school-theater_n_654c27eae4b0ea0b7f959864
Several Students Were Kicked Out Of A School Play — All Over Their Gender Identity

“We just had this giant cry sesh outside of the choir room,” Max Hightower said.

HuffPost
Show threadAmi AngelwingsNov 10, 2023
@jason thanks!
Show threadTomNov 11, 2023
@ami_angelwings It really makes me want to write plays, so I can make ones where the gender is never explicitly said.
Show threadKevin Karhan Nov 8, 2023
@ami_angelwings basically admitting to discrimination then...
Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulNov 8, 2023
@ami_angelwings this literally sounds like a high school tbh. Micronation wannabe dictators just making up their own rules. We had rules that only applied to Asians, for example. Whites can ignore it.
Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulNov 8, 2023
@ami_angelwings anyway i hope they get sued to shit and back
Show threadDr Ro SmithNov 8, 2023
@ami_angelwings yeah, good luck figuring out how to put on Twelfth Night! (Although part of the point is to discourage that kind of theatre too :-/)
Show threadM.O.M.O.Nov 8, 2023
@ami_angelwings Just wait till they learn about Satyr plays
Show threaddr elmyraNov 9, 2023
@ami_angelwings Shakespeare would like a word?
Show threadlibraryogreNov 10, 2023
@elmyra @ami_angelwings Sophocles has taken a number.
Show threadSSFC KDT (MOVED)Nov 10, 2023

@ami_angelwings The best part is how it's like "we can't say that this will continue to be the policy for any other production"

ooooooooookay

Show threadBlue Witch GwenNov 10, 2023
@ami_angelwings ah yes, we must protect that bastion of cisheterosexuality, musical theater.
Show threadViolet MadderNov 10, 2023

@ami_angelwings

Not ever.

Hell, it's more common in theater for cross-gender roles to be mandatory (usually cause women were prohibited from acting), than the other way around.

Show threadCyber YukiNov 10, 2023

@ami_angelwings

Also: Kabuki. All female roles are played by men.

Show threadCaroline Bell Nov 10, 2023
@ami_angelwings
Policies that only affect one individual are targeted harassment. That's a fucking crime. How do people get away with this shit?
Show threadRodelindaNov 10, 2023
@ami_angelwings @shekinahcancook The entire world of opera would like a word.
Show threadEepy Lunya cuddly edition Nov 11, 2023
@ami_angelwings fuck those transphobes they're just using bullshit excuse
But that's what they always do
Show threadMorgan ⚧️Nov 11, 2023
@ami_angelwings rules like this will kill literally any middle school and high school theatre program. Most of the musicals that are well known and/or have kid friendly versions have somewhere between half and nearly all male characters, and most school theatre programs are mostly cis girls. So now they don't get to do the shows they want because they don't have enough people who were AMAB to legally fill all the male roles, even if any and all transfem actresses agreed to a male role
Show threaddrbrainNov 11, 2023
@ami_angelwings @adarsh in opera it’s mandatory in order to match a vocal range to the music, because the character cross-dresses for any variety of reasons, and sometimes both