Snowflakes in Spring Branch

I went to schools in the Spring Branch school district—Frostwood Elementary, Memorial Junior High, and finally, Memorial High School. (It was weird going to the websites for these school and seeing them spotlight teachers who are all substatially younger than I am—it doesn’t feel right!) All three of those schools are deep within the very white Houston arrow, although Spring Branch north of I-10 is a little more Hispanic. I have more-or-less positive feelings towards my old schools, but my school district recently beclowned itself. The school district cancelled a school field trip to see Main Street Theater’s production of James and the Giant Peach, adapted from the beloved children’s book by Roald Dahl. Why? Because some weirdo complained about crossdressing performers.

Not that I expect the administrators of Spring Branch to be “brave”, but what the fucking fuck?! Look at that cast—every single cast member plays multiple parts. It is impossible for them to put on this play with this cast and not have some actors and actresses playing characters who have different genders from their own.

This is how the Houston Chronicle described the chain of events that lead to this embarrassment:

It seems the initial concern can be traced back to a social media post that gained traction. An anonymous person behind the Instagram account @htxkidsfirst  — which regularly posts content attacking the LGBTQ+ community with the stated purpose of protecting children — posted screenshots of messages purported to be from SBISD parents claiming they would keep their children home from the field trip due to concerns about a "drag queen's role in the show." 

So a few mentally-ill “parents” complained and Spring Branch bravely folded in the face of the complaints. Spring Branch ISD released the following statement to parents. “Spring Branch ISD's pending field trips to the Main Street Theater performance of 'James and the Giant Peach' are being canceled due to concerns raised about the age-appropriateness of the performance.” And when the Chronicle reached out for clarification, they provided the paper with the exact same statement.

Thanks Spring Branch for heroically protecting students from seeing James and the Giant Peach. You suck, Spring Branch ISD!

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