Florida Students Believe Show Stopped Over Don’t Say Gay
Students at a Florida performing arts high school say they’re being censored and blame the state’s recent new law targeting LGBTQ+ youth.
On Thursday, cast members in Douglas Anderson School of the Performing Arts’ production of Indecent said they were told by administrators their latest production was being scrapped because of the script’s content.
Indecent is a 2015 play about the controversy centered around the 1923 production of God of Vengeance, which was shut down on Broadway for obscenity. It is also considered a queer Jewish love story.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Madeline Scotti, 17, a senior at the Jacksonville school, was playing one of the lead roles, Chana The Ingenue. The show was cast in December and scheduled to debut on March 1. Scotti told Teen Vogue the cast discussed being “Don’t Say Gay-ed,” after hearing the news.
Duval County Public Schools said the show’s cancelation is not related to Ron DeSantis’ infamous Parental Rights in Education law, which is known informally by critics as the Don’t Say Gay law.
“Indecent contains adult sexual dialog that is inappropriate for student cast members and student audiences,” Duval County Public Schools spokesperson Tracy Pierce said Friday. “It’s that simple. The decision has no relevance to any legislation but is rather a function of our responsibilities to ensure students engage in educational activities appropriate for their age.”
Douglas Anderson theater students, including Scotti, say they don’t believe the school district’s reasoning is legitimate, citing previous school productions of shows with mature content including Chicago and Rent. “It’s baffling that a show written about the detrimental effects of censorship is being censored,” Scotti said. “What about love should be censored? How is this impure?”
Jackson Moser, who was cast as Lemml in the show, agreed. “The idea that the contents of Indecent are somehow uniquely mature borders on farce,” Moser told Teen Vogue. “Our school has produced story after story, many of them containing adult content….The truth is, this story is being silenced.”
Mickey Titus, 17, a senior, was cast as part of the show musical ensemble to play accordion. He spent his winter break learning the instrument for the production. “Our cast, as a whole, is very disappointed and hurt,” he said. “We have already worked for so long even before rehearsals. We are more hurt that it happened and we have no control or voice to change it.”
Students and educators across Florida have expressed concern over LGBTQ+ censorship as school districts grapple with how the law applies to discussions and depictions of queer identities.
Officials at school districts across Florida spent months discussing how to comply with the new Parental Rights in Education law. At the beginning of the school year, teachers said Duval County schools officials directed them to remove existing rainbow “Safe Space” stickers from their classroom windows and doors. The school district also ended its 20-year partnership with the local youth LGBTQ+ center, provoking swift community backlash.
In an email to Douglas Anderson families, school leadership said the show was being swapped out for a production “more suitable for student performers and student audiences.” The new play is Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, a drama about unrequited love centering around four main characters.
In response to district officials pulling the plug on Indecent, Scotti filmed an Instagram Reel speaking about the situation. In less than 24 hours, it’s been viewed nearly 9,000 times.
“Indecent is a story about how detrimental censorship is, about how its damaging effects can ruin a nation and a community. I don’t need to point out the irony,” they said. “They are trying to tell us this play is dirty, immoral, obscene, and, of course, indecent. And by that nature, they’re trying to tell me that I myself and my community is dirty, immoral, obscene, and indecent. And I don’t have a reason.”
Scotti said the cast is working to figure out a way to put on the show anyway, without school affiliation if necessary.
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