Angst over LGBTQ+ stories led to another canceled show. But in a Wyoming town, a play was salvaged

WHEATLAND, Wyo.– Oliver Baez spent two months rehearsing a scene for a school play in which his character confronts another student about bullying a gay student who commits suicide.

After much preparation, the 12-year-old’s small scene turned into a major issue among school officials in Wheatland, Wyoming. At the last minute they canceled the anti-bullying play, saying it was not in line with school values ​​and left the young cast without a stage.

“It was horrible,” Baez said. “If the school cancels it, it’s like saying ‘LGBTQ should not be included in any society.’ That is really terrible and cruel.”

Twenty-five years after a turning point for the gay rights movement — the murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student in a college town not far from Wheatland — the canceled performances of “The Bullying Collection” show how far the LGBTQ+ community still has to gain acceptance in Wyoming and elsewhere.

Wyoming is one of only two states without a hate crimes law; South Carolina is the other. Libraries across the country are facing community pressure to purchase children’s books with LGBTQ+ stories, drag shows have been banned in some places and a University of Wyoming fraternity was sued for admitting a transgender woman.

Meanwhile, Wyoming lawmakers are preparing to consider a bill this session that would narrowly define gender as a person’s biological sex at birth, limiting the lives of trans and nonbinary residents.

Located on the eastern plains of Wyoming, Wheatland is a small farming and ranching community with a population of approximately 3,500. There are few restaurants, no department stores – not even a local Walmart – and few performance venues other than Wheatland High School.

A local theater group, the Platte County Players, has permission to perform there and secured the rights to the play and sponsored the performance at the high school a month later, as originally planned.

The students performed last week in front of a small group of people who braved icy roads and sub-zero temperatures to attend the postponed show. But if they still grow up with bad feelings about the whole thing, they would have good reason to do so.

Community apathy, combined with snowy weather and extreme cold, made for a sparsely attended performance. Only about 50 people showed up, including a half-dozen LGBTQ+ advocates and allies from Cheyenne, 70 miles away.

Parents were thrilled to see the play finally performed after weeks of rehearsals and then postponements. It was sad that the director could not stand up for what was right and was misled by “old ideas,” Oliver’s mother, Cassie Baez, said in an email.

In a changing world, such limited thinking is harmful to children after they grow up and escape small-town life, Cassie Baez added.

“As a child who was bullied, Oliver knew this was important. So he was sad and even angry that the school still did not support him on a very important issue,” Cassie Baez wrote.

However, the principal had the support of school district leadership.

“The board supports the administration,” school board chairman Lu Lay said in an emailed statement, citing zero “negative” reactions from the public to the cancellation decision.

To the district’s superintendent, John Weigel, the play seemed more appropriate for middle schoolers than high schoolers. He said he had not seen the play himself but had heard from the principal that it confused some children and that some teachers at the high school supported the cancellation.

The play featured ten-minute skits about bullying, including politicians and parents belittling each other and a teenager being bullied for carrying tampons at school. It also addressed a wide range of topics, including the risk of suicide for LGBTQ+ youth and students, describing what it’s like to experience a school shooting.

For school administrators, a scene in which a student praises another student who committed suicide was especially problematic. Baez walked onto the stage from the audience to chastise the girl for not disclosing that the boy was gay and how she had participated in bullying him.

“In my opinion, a play should be entertaining, that’s why I’m going,” Weigel said. “It seems to me that this kind of stirs up more social issues, perhaps, rather than being more entertaining.”

When he canceled the show, director Robert Daniel compounded the sting by giving each cast member a $5 gift card to a Maverik supermarket, along with an apology letter saying they had done a “great job.” Daniel did not return phone messages requesting comment.

One student tore up the letter and returned the card. Another, Erica Biggs, 14, who played the role of the main bully opposite Baez, described the principal’s gesture as humiliating after all their hard work.

“We all thought they were trying to bribe us so we would feel better and not be angry about the play. But it didn’t really help,” Biggs said.

Among those in attendance Friday evening was Sara Burlingame, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Wyoming Equality, who drove from Cheyenne to show support.

“They are doing exactly what we hope all students would do, which is taking very seriously how bullying affects their peers,” Burlingame said. “The irony is that the people who are supposed to be their role models become their bullies.”

This isn’t the first time children in Wheatland have had to deal with this. Last spring, a high school performance of “Mean Girls” was canceled and the same local theater group stepped in to produce the show for a packed house.

Ten years earlier, the school board voted 4-3 to remove “No Place for Hate” banners from schools because the Gay and Lesbian Fund of Colorado was one of the campaign’s sponsors.

“Here we go again,” said Jeran Artery, a former Equality Director in Wyoming who grew up in the city. “If there’s anything in Wheatland that bears any resemblance to any association with the LGBTQ movement, it’s: ‘This needs to come down immediately. Our children should not see this. ”

More than thirty years ago, Artery was in high school rehearsing for the play “The Lion In Winter,” which was canceled due to the existence of one gay character.

“Just because there was a reference to homosexuality there was an uproar in the city, letters to the editor and all that. And the drama director said, ‘This isn’t worth it, I’m just going to cancel the play,'” Artery recalled.

Still, some parents said they were still unsure why “The Bullying Collection” was canceled because school officials never explained the decision.

“I read it all the way through,” said Melissa Rukavina, whose two daughters starred in the play. “Unless you’re super narrow-minded, I don’t see why you would do that.”

Drama coach Stephanie Bradley, who also attended the high school, disputed the decision.

“I was told that promoting the LGBTQ community is not in line with the school’s values,” she said.

“Most people in this part of Wyoming don’t come out early,” Bradley said of LGBTQ+ teens on the state’s rural plains. “They wait until they can escape, where they are safe. I just want it to be a safe place for everyone.” ___

This story contains a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988.