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Debate has raged in America in recent years over the role that LGBTQ issues, gender, sexually explicit content and politics play in K-12 education. Now, some schools are canceling plays in response.
High school musicals are the "culture war’s latest casualty," according to The Washington Post.
'Following a record-setting surge in efforts to change curriculums and ban books at schools nationwide, the education culture war has now reached the stage," The Post reported. "[S]chool administrators have intervened to nix or alter school theatrical productions deemed objectionable — often because they feature LGBTQ characters or deal with issues of race and racism."
In Middlefield, Ohio, a county school district canceled its high school spring play because it contained vulgarity in its song lyrics that the district argued were inappropriate for teenagers in an educational setting. The play, titled "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", had songs that included references to erections, Jesus and gay parents.
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Empty Theater. (iStock)
The school board has since imposed a policy that every play must be approved by the principal, superintendent, and full board going forward.
Vanessa Allen, the music director for the canceled production, complained about the decision.
"It makes me worry about the future and the scrutiny I am going to face," she told The Post. "It makes me paranoid about every decision."
Similar instances of cancelation The Post highlighted included plays across the country involving "a love affair between two women," "depiction of a same-sex couple and a nonbinary character," "suicide, addiction and racism," and "killing, scenes of children smoking and references to torture and self-harm."
Grayson Hart, who directs a youth theater program, reviews sheet music at the Ned R. McWherter West Tennessee Cultural Arts Center in Jackson, Tenn., on Saturday, March 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)
In Indiana, "Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood," a play that altered the gender roles in Robin Hood, was canceled after parent backlash about LGBTQ characters.
A district spokesperson contended that they replaced the show out of fear that people "could show up and say rude comments."
The Post connected the cancelations to "State legislatures … proposing and passing a historic wave of laws and policies restricting LGBTQ student rights and representation at school; in Florida last month, for example, the Board of Education banned education about gender identity and sexuality at all grade levels. Some legislation may directly affect school theater productions: Bills advanced in at least 15 states forbidding drag shows could be interpreted as outlawing cross-dressing in school plays, said Jennifer Katona, executive director of the Educational Theatre Association."
Carlisle Area School District Board discuss impact of an AP African-American Studies course that has been banned in Florida at a school board meeting on April 20th, 2023.
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While some states have passed laws restricting explicit LGBTQ content in public schools, the cancelations The Post highlighted were the result of decisions by local community officials and parents.