[Tom4784]

A 14-year-old schoolboy was banned from performing a drag act wearing high heels and a long silver wig at his school's talent show.

Lewis Bailey was distraught when teachers in Dudley, West Midlands, denied him the chance to compete after he had practised his lip-sync dance routine for weeks with the help of his family.

His mother Natalie, 37, said the school had claimed it was illegal for under-18s to take part in drag act competitions but Lewis said he was not being 'accepted for who I am'.

Lewis, who was inspired by RuPaul's Drag Race, said he was 'heartbroken and confused' at the school's clampdown and said he felt he was 'truly being myself' when performing in drag.

But the principal of Castle High School and Visual Arts College in Dudley, West Midlands, defended the school's decision on the grounds of 'age appropriateness'.

Teachers put a stop to Lewis's plans just a day before the talent show, leaving him devastated after he had spent weeks preparing a dance routine.

His performance was a dance to a medley of tracks he mixed with his stepfather including songs by Little Mix, Ariana Grande and RuPaul.

He was planning to wear a floral co-ord top blazer and skirt from eBay, high heels his grandmother brought him, and a long silver wig.

But on Monday he was 'pulled out of lessons' and told he couldn't take part in Tuesday night's show, he said.

Lewis said: 'They claim it's because it is illegal - but I think the real reason is they don't accept me for who I am.

'I'm heartbroken and confused. After all the effort I have put into it, it has knocked my confidence a lot.'

Mother-of-three Natalie said his new hobby - which includes immaculate make up and choreography - has seen the once-withdrawn boy come out of his shell.

She said: 'There's no law over impersonating a female and doing a dance. We can't find anything anywhere that says that, and anyway it's a school talent show, not a competition.

'His act for the talent show was dressing as a lady and dancing. There is no swearing, no raunchy behaviour, nothing over the top.

'The school is very multicultural and I think the school think some of the parents won't like it. But people should be able to do what they want to do and be who they want to be.

'They have really knocked his confidence. They have knocked his confidence to zero.'

Michelle King, principal at Castle Academy, said: 'Castle is an inclusive school that celebrates diversity.

'With regard to the performance of our student Lewis Bailey at the end-of-term talent show; we made the decision that it was not age appropriate for either the learner and for the intended audience, his peer group, for Lewis to appear as a drag act.

'We understood Lewis wanted to appear in the style of RuPaul, whose style of performance is characterised by strong language and sexual innuendo.

'We invited Lewis to appear in the show as a singer and were happy for him to dress in any manner he wished.

'We regret we did not communicate this earlier but stand by our belief that it is not appropriate for young people to perform drag acts. RuPaul's own TV show requires contestants to have a minimum age of 18 years old.

'Our decision was entirely made on the basis of age appropriateness, with sensitivity to both Lewis and to his fellow students.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...lent-show.html

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A ridiculous story tbh, there's no laws against this and I doubt the headteacher would have the same issue if the kid was a girl doing the same routine. It's sad that the only backwards attitude in this story comes from the school itself. If it's just a lipsync to music then there's no reason to prevent him from performing, not all drag is hypersexualised, that's a very general and old fashioned view on things.

If a place had a trademark smell then Dudley's would be the overpowering stench of bad weed and I can only assume that the head is suffering from bad judgement brought on by a secondhand high Come thru diversity and tolerance in an area that I didn't think such things existed though