South Grand Prairie High School senior Ana Mota, 17, is suing the Grand Prairie Independent School District after district officials cancelled the high school’s planned production of Little Shop of Horrors rather than allow Mota to perform the role of the male lead, Seymour, according to breaking news reports from the Dallas Morning News.
The lawsuit claims GPISD violated Title IX, the federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex by institutions receiving federal funds. Mota’s mother, Nancy Jimenez, has also filed a Title IX complaint with the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education.
GPISD district officials have declined to comment on the lawsuit.
News that the play was being cancelled was made public the week of Oct. 12, when Mota told the Morning News that she had been cast as Seymour and rehearsals had already started when district officials stepped. Mota told reporters she was informed she couldn’t play Seymour in the production because of Texas Senate Bill 12, which was passed in 2023 and which bans certain drag performances.
At a GPISD Board of Trustees meeting that same week — on Thursday, Oct. 15 — board president Emily Liles defended the school district’s decision but insisted that GPISD Superintendent Gabe Trujillo instead canceled the production based on the OTHER Senate Bill 12, passed in 2025, which bans diversity, equity and inclusion measures in public schools along with school-sanctioned clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity and anything school curricula on acknowledging transgender identities.
(Editor’s note: Oh, well, okay then! As long as they are discriminating for a GOOD reason, right?)
Jimenez asked GPISD officials to explain in writing exactly how her daughter playing a male role in a play would violate state law. She never received an answer, the Morning News Reports.
Mota’s lawsuit claims the school district is misrepresenting SB 12 and applying it too broadly, noting that cross-gender acting is a centuries-old staple of theater. The lawsuit also points out that Mota is not transgender and “was not engaged in any personal gender transition. She was portraying a scripted fictional character in an official school theatrical production.”
— Tammye Nash