Texas High School Says Transgender Boy Can't Play Male Role in 'Oklahoma!'

Sherman High School in Texas is not OK with a transgender boy playing a male role in Oklahoma!

Max Hightower, a senior, was cast in the role about two weeks ago, TV station KXII reports. The station didn't name the character, but it was reported later that Hightower was cast as Persian peddler Ali Hakim in the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

A few days later, however, Hightower was told he couldn’t play the role. He said the principal told him that for this production, “actors and actresses could only play a role that was the same gender they were assigned at birth.” The school’s website identifies the principal as Scott Johnston.

Hightower, who was elated when he was cast, said he was “devastated” when the role was taken away from him, according to KXII. He has played female characters in previous shows, but the staffers who run the theater productions had no problem with appearing as male, he and his father said.

“All kinds of actors have played all kinds of parts,” Hightower said. “I mean, I grew up watching Mrs. Doubtfire.”

He is determined to be reinstated, he said. “I want every kid to be recognized and noticed and allowed to be themselves,” he told the station.

Trending stories

Media mogul Carlos King teases potential Bravo return and 'his type of man'

Turn your Easter into the colors of the rainbow with these Pride-themed shortbread treats

Elon Musk uses burner accounts on X, doesn’t fact-check: report

French Polynesia doesn’t need Pride flags to earn its place on every LGBTQ+ bucket list

All 6 rogue Mississippi cops got long prison sentences in 'Goon Squad' torture of 2 Black men

A tribute to 'The Last of Us' Joel Miller — a heroic ally in a toxic, antigay world

500,000 Children at Risk: PEPFAR Funding Crisis

Season 4 of The Switch on resilience & radical self-love returns this spring

Senate staffer in Capitol Hill sex video recounts backlash

Gerald Garth is keeping people of color happy and healthy through trying times

Broadway's best raise over $1 million for LGBTQ+ and HIV causes

Out and About with Karan Soni

Broadway bound: The best hotels in NYC’s Theater District for every type of traveler

Beyond Wonderland's accepting & unifying rave culture is needed more than ever

Onya Nurve says she's the 'kryptonite' to JD Vance

Joe Biden has tied the record for most LGBTQ+ judges confirmed in federal courts

Kori King drags Cameo rival Nikki Blonsky: 'I hope you fall off the face of the Earth'

JD Vance was Pope Francis' final visitor, and then 'antichrist' started trending

Jewels Sparkles quits X/Twitter amid 'Drag Race' S17 finale discourse

'Sinners' review: Ryan Coogler reinvents sexy vampires in 2025's best blockbuster so far

Discover the power of Wellness in your life

France becomes world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in constitution

How climate disasters hurt mental health in young people

‘The Ugly Stepsister’ is a grotesque and wickedly fun interrogation of gender

11 times Kristen Stewart and her WIFE Dylan Meyer were the cutest

• 0
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8

“I expected him to be crying, but no, Max is a fighter,” said his father, Philip Hightower.

The Sherman Independent School District released a statement saying, “There is no policy on how students are assigned to 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.”

The statement also said the production is under review and would be postponed.

“It was brought to the District’s attention that the current production contained mature adult themes, profane language, and sexual content,” the statement noted. “Unfortunately, all aspects of the production need to be reviewed, including content, stage production/props, and casting to ensure that the production is appropriate for the high school stage.”

For the record, Oklahoma! is considered a classic of American musical theater. It was first produced on Broadway in 1943 and has been revived several times, most recently in 2019, and made into a film. It has received countless awards and is a staple of school theater departments and community theater troupes.

The Sherman High School production was originally scheduled for December 8-10. The new dates will likely be sometime after January 15, the statement said.