Teacher Says She Was Fired For Attending Drag Show. Pastor From School Cites ‘Godly’ Rule
Reagan Reese on July 28, 2023
A Texas Christian school pastor cited a “godly” rule after a teacher claimed she was fired for attending a drag show, according to ABC 13 News.
Kristi Maris, a First Baptist Academy teacher of 19 years, was fired from her position after she attended a drag show and posted photos and videos on Facebook from the event with the caption, “this was a blast!!!!” according to ABC 13 News. Maris was fired because her post violated a line in the school’s operating policies manual, which states that employees must act in a “godly” manner at work and on social media, the academy’s senior pastor told the outlet.
“I will act in a godly and moral fashion at work, on Facebook and in my community,” the line the school pastor cited read, ABC 13 News reported.
Maris’ co-worker, who she attended the drag show with, was also fired from the academy following the Facebook post, according to ABC 13 News.
Maris had previously agreed to abide by the line in the school’s operating policies manual but was unaware that the drag show was considered a violation of the policy, ABC 13 News reported. Maris told the outlet that she is a devoted Christian and has taught her students to “love everybody.”
“For almost 20 years, I’ve taught children to love each other,” Maris told ABC 13 News. “I’ve talked to them and told them, ‘You have to get along. God loves us all equally.’ And that’s the way we should be. We should love everybody, and that’s what we’ve been teaching, but they’re expecting us not to do that.”
Drag shows have recently come under fire as schools host drag queen story hours and lawmakers seek to restrict such sexually explicit performances from the view of minors; in June, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill in law banning sexually oriented performances for minors. In Tennessee, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction against a Tennessee law which prohibited sexually explicit drag performances in front of minors, claiming it was “unconstitutionally vague.”
“I feel like we were treated like criminals,” Maris told the ABC 13 News.
Maris has no plans of returning to teaching at another school but will attend another drag show in the future, she told the outlet.
Maris was unable to be reached for comment and First Baptist Academy did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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