A 14-year-old boy was banned from performing his drag act in a school talent show “I think the real reason is they don’t accept me for who I am.”

Lewis Bailey was banned from his school talent show because he was planning to perform a drag act.

Lewis and his family say the school has invented a law to try and block his act because they “don’t accept him for who he is”.

School ‘judgemental’

His mother Natalie claims the school’s legal team said it was illegal for under-18s to participate in drag act competitions.

The i newsletter latest news and analysis Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

She said: “I think the school are being judgmental.

“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.”

‘Truly being myself.’

Lewis said the refusal from Castle High School and Visual Arts College in Dudley knocked his confidence, as it came just a day before the contest, and he’d been practising a lip-sync dance routine in his heels for weeks.

The schoolboy 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 heart broken and confused. After all the effort I have put into it, it has knocked my confidence a lot.

“When I’m in drag I feel I’m truly being myself.”

Inspired by RuPaul’s Drag Race

Lewis has loved dancing all his life and decided he wanted to be a drag performer after watching RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Mum-of-three Natalie said his new hobby – which includes immaculate make up and choreography – has seen the once-withdraw teenager come out of his shell.

He entered the talent contest around three weeks ago, and has been practising at home and with a teacher at school ever since, she said.

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

But he was “pulled out of lessons” and told he couldn’t take part a day ahead of the show

Performance not “age appropriate”

Michelle King, principal at Castle Academy, said: “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 Rau Paul [SIC], 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. Rau Paul’s own TV show requires contestants to have a minimum age of 18 years old.

“We respect the long tradition of female impersonation in theatre, however to appear as a drag queen, goes beyond this.

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