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Principal Sued for Threatening to Kill Gay Couple’s Son

WDJT-TV.In the spring of 2019, Kalumbula allegedly locked the child in a dark room for more than an hour, and threatened to kill him if he told anyone about it. While the harassment did not continue while schools were closed for in-person classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2021, just a month before schools reopened, Kalumbula was named acting principal.Shortly after returning to school, the gay couple’s son was — once again — bullied by other students for having gay parents.
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Texas High School Removes Trans Student from ‘Oklahoma!’
Oklahoma!But soon after, the school’s principal called Hightower’s father to inform him of a new district policy.“He said we’re instituting a new policy where only males can play males, and only females can play females,” Phillip Hightower told Dallas-Fort Worth NBC affiliate KXAS-TV.The elder Hightower was “devastated” by the decision, noting that Max has never been treated differently because of his gender identity — until now.Aside from being absurd — cross-gender casting has been a reality in the theater world dating back centuries — the school district’s purported policy will likely prove logistically difficult if it tries to avoid cross-gender casting, in part because there’s frequently a dearth of males in high school production casting pools.Illustrating that point, the sudden policy change also reportedly cost several other cast members their roles, according to the New York Post.Max Hightower’s adult sister, Gracie, recounted the events involving her brother, writing that some female students cast as “cowboys” were told they could not participate in the play due to the school district’s decision to intervene in casting.“Many opportunities were ripped away from kids not for bad grades, not for bad behavior, not for attendance, but for something that has absolutely nothing to do with the production whatsoever,” she wrote.A group of parents, including Phillip Hightower, plan to appeal the decision to the school board. “I’m not an activist.
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Gay Games Kicks Off in Hong Kong, Enraging Conservative Lawmakers
Reuters, no previous Gay Games had fewer than 8,000 participants.But the week prior to the event, only 2,381 athletes had registered to play in Hong Kong, and only 2,458 participants had registered for Guadalajara.The opening ceremonies of the Gay Games last Thursday drew criticism from local anti-LGBTQ conservative politicians, eight of whom backed a petition circulated by anti-LGBTQ groups demanding the Gay Games’ cancellation due to fears of spreading “Western ideology,” reports CNN.Junius Ho, a firebrand conservative lawmaker, suggested that the Gay Games violate provisions within the country’s new national security law that prohibit foreign powers from interfering in Hong Kong’s governance. This is based on the idea that support for homosexuality is a form of Western imperialism and is too closely connected with pro-freedom movements that have warred with China’s Communist-led government.Another lawmaker, Peter Shiu, accused the event of being overly politicized and a form of “advocacy” that was an attempt to impose Western values on Chinese society.Organizers of the Gay Games rebutted those claims, arguing that the event is a non-political celebration of inclusivity.“All our books have been checked by professional accountants, open and transparent,” Lisa Lam, the co-chair of Gay Games, said at a kickoff event last Thursday.
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9 Governors Want the NCAA to Ban Trans Athletes
letter demanding that the NCAA ban transgender female athletes from competing in women’s sports.The letter’s signatories are Governors Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Mike Parson of Missouri, Greg Gianforte of Montana, Joe Lombardo of Nevada, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Greg Abbott of Texas, and Mark Gordon of Wyoming.All except Lombardo — who is saddled with a Democratic-led state legislature — represent states that have passed laws banning transgender participation on female-designated sports teams.The governors decry the NCAA’s current policy on transgender athletes, which allows the individual national governing body of each sport to determine criteria for eligibility.Some of those sporting bodies, including track and field and swimming, have barred transgender competitors from female events.Both bodies have also suggested holding a third “open” category in which transgender swimmers could compete at the elite or post-collegiate levels.“The NCAA has the chance to guarantee an environment where female college athletes can thrive without the concern of inequities,” the letter reads. “We trust that you also want to guarantee just such an environment.
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‘Macbeth in Stride’ Review: Sound and Fury
For musical theater lovers intrigued by the idea of a lively 90-minute pastiche of rock, soul, and ballad paired with an interesting premise involving Shakespeare and social justice, Macbeth in Stride is the show for you. With an onstage band and performance at the heart of the production, this is all about clapping along, a goodly portion of expository — some of it sung — and participation as required.For those with a shorter attention span, fear not: there are whiffs of live-concert crowd-rousing, keening gospel gatherings, and even intimate evenings in a piano bar.The question is, other than being very entertaining, does Macbeth in Stride actually have something to say?Maybe, perhaps, sort of.The concept of writer-performer Whitney White is certainly compelling: it starts with a personable and inclusive invitation to consider with new eyes the way Shakespeare writes his female characters, Lady Macbeth in particular (called Woman here).White begins by asking, who was she really? Her answer arrives through the lens of a Black woman laying claim to their world and their power.This is an intriguing premise, but anyone who knows the play will be stumped by a threshold question: why choose a character who is murderously power-mad to the point of driving herself insane? Despite a fair amount of spoken and sung angst, the answer to the question never quite surfaces, and White’s attempts to fill in the gaps never convinces.More to the point, White’s Lady Macbeth presents as too smart, capable, and 21st-century-centered to see murder as her way to power.When even the three witches query her ruthlessness, it’s time to make the message clear, but it still never quite adds up.
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The Anti-LGBTQ Bile of Speaker Mike Johnson
The New York Times, Johnson, whom the newspaper called “the most important architect of the Electoral College objections,” crafted arguments alleging that certain states’ changes to voting procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic were unconstitutional. Therefore, he argued, the election results from those states should have been invalidated.On Tuesday night, after being nominated, a reporter tried to ask Johnson about his role in pushing to decertify the results of the 2020 election, only to be shouted down by members of the GOP caucus, who told the reporter to “shut up.”Johnson grinned slyly, shaking his head and refusing to answer.Politically, Johnson is a tried-and-true conservative, earning a lifetime rating of 92% from the American Conservative Union and 90% from Heritage Action.He has voted against a host of bipartisan bills, including a measure to establish a January 6 independent commission, and some of the Biden administration’s chief legislative accomplishments, including a national infrastructure funding bill, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act.Earlier this year, Johnson voted in favor of raising the debt limit, but voted against a bill to avoid a government shutdown in early October.He has previously indicated, in a letter to colleagues shared to social media by U.S.
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