'I'll do it again': Texas teachers fired after night at 'ungodly' drag show, school says
Kristi Maris, who has been teaching for nearly two decades, said she has no regrets.
BAYTOWN, Texas -- A Texas teacher and grandmother was fired from her job after going to a drag show and posting about it on social media.
Kristi Maris said she had always wanted to go to Hamburger Mary's, a popular spot in downtown Houston known for burgers and drag shows.
On July 13, she finally went with a coworker and her daughters.
She had such a good time, that she proudly posted photos and videos on Facebook the next day, with the caption, "This was a blast!!!!"
Then, the phone call came. After 19 years at First Baptist Academy in Baytown, Maris and her coworker were fired.
"I feel like we were treated like criminals," she said.
According to the school's senior pastor, it's all because of this line in the school operating policies manual:
"I will act in a godly and moral fashion at work, on Facebook and in my community."
Maris had agreed to the clause, but didn't realize she was breaking it by going to a drag show.
"They're entertainers. I would've never thought in a million years that this would happen. Never. We were in disbelief. We still are. We were heartbroken. We had relationships with parents and the kids, and I didn't even get to say goodbye to a lot of the kids," she said.
Maris was a physical education teacher. She is so dedicated to her job, that she had gone back to school several years ago for an extra certification.
She's also a devoted Christian.
"For almost 20 years, I've taught children to love each other. 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," Maris said. "We should love everybody, and that's what we've been teaching, but they're expecting us not to do that."
Maris is done with teaching for now, but she says she's not done having a blast.
"Oh yeah, I'll do it again," she laughed. "It was too much fun, and it was good music!"
