Nonbinary teacher at the center of Louisiana school board controversy speaks out

• The University Elementary teacher recently came under fire at a Caddo Parish School Board meeting
• Blaine Banghart said they want to "be a living rainbow so people feel safe and welcomed.""
• Banghart came out as nonbinary in 2019. They are married to their husband, George Broussard

As Blaine Banghart sat drinking their Topo Chico, their radiance shined in the morning sun on the patio of a Shreveport coffeehouse. Their rhinestone jacket pulled people passing by off the street to complement the bright colors. 

Color is the way the 26-year-old elementary music teacher expresses themself.

Banghart is nonbinary and does not identify themself as any gender. "I want people to look at me and not know what I am, to look at me and not be like, oh, there's that woman or there's that man. I want to be androgynous; I want to be in the middle."

Their gender identity and style came under fire at a Caddo Parish School Board meeting on March 15. A group of people took issue with Banghart's clothing and posts on TikTok.

Brandy Pou with UnMask our Kids Louisiana took to Facebook prior to the meeting asking all parents to come out in opposition of Banghart. 

More:Parents clash at Louisiana school board meeting over nonbinary teacher. No action taken

As people entered the meeting chamber at 4 p.m., a clear divide was apparent. Individuals appeared to seat themselves in factions — to the left, brightly-dressed Banghart supporters and to the right, their opposition.

Those vocally opposing Banghart claimed the dress code was the main point of contention. 

Pou said, "Employees should be professional."

"My goal is to live colorfully and vibrantly, to try to make people happy," Banghart said later in an interview. "Basically to be a living rainbow so people feel safe and welcomed." 

Banghart said they are not at liberty to speak about the school board meeting or social media attention it garnered.  

Read:Support and outrage over Louisiana teacher who identifies as nonbinary: What we know

Finding a place in music

Banghart was born in a small town in Texas called Gun Barrel City, named after its straight geographical landscape. Ever since Banghart was a child they loved music. 

"Band in high school was my place. I belonged there. I felt welcomed there. I wasn't judged," Banghart said. 

Music has always been Banghart's passion and would later lead them to their future career. 

"I always knew I wanted to be a teacher growing up, I just didn't know what I wanted to teach. I thought I was going to be a math teacher. But then my senior year of high school, I made the all-state band on French horn. I didn't realize that music teacher was something that you could go to school for," Banghart said. "So I just put the two things together and made it work." 

They met their husband George Broussard, 29, through friends in the band while at Northwestern State University in Louisiana. 

Now Banghart teaches music at University Elementary School in Shreveport. 

Banghart said their true passion is to spark that love for music in young children because music is so vast and can be a home for those who see the world differently.

Coming out in the South

More:'Don't Say Gay' bill would bar discussing sexual orientation, gender identity in schools

In high school, Banghart came out as bisexual, they said the support for the LBGT community was absent at best. "Being from a really small town there wasn't a big support system in the LGBT community. We had one teacher that was out as gay."

Banghart said they spent a lot of time overperforming femininity. "I thought something was wrong with me, and that I had to just overdo it to be seen how I thought people wanted to see me."

In 2019, Banghart came out as nonbinary on Facebook. "I've always known since I was little that I wasn't a girl and that I wasn't a boy. But I didn't have the language for that in the early 2000s. And actually didn't have the language for that until a couple of years ago."

Banghart said they met some friends who were nonbinary and gender-neutral and this discovery helped their journey.

"I came out with my sexuality a long time before that," Banghart said. "But I didn't know that there was a whole side to gender that I could like discover and delve into."

Broussard was the one person that Banghart was most scared to come out to. 

Banghart said, "I actually came out online before I ever talked to him about it."

"I have this online persona. And I think that's where people get a little confused about me. I feel like I'm a lot meeker and more in the background in person than I appear online."

Three years later, Banghart says Broussard is their biggest supporter. Having a support system is crucial in the LGBTQ community. 

Banghart said revealing their gender identity was more intense than coming out as bisexual. They said there are plenty of trans people in the world, but it's a little more nuanced.

"It's not as acceptable as someone saying, Hey, I'm gay. I feel like that's kind of commonplace now. Even in the South," Banghart said. "It's not your identifying factor is oh, you're a gay person. I feel like with trans people right now, that's kind of how it is."

Banghart wants people to know that they are just trying to live their life. 

Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.