Booo!

This is not a story of Earth-shattering importance, but sometimes an item just really irks me.

AP for June 29 has the story of 17-year-old Mikhael Rawls, a high school student in Bedford, Texas, who sings countertenor. He wanted to audition for the All-State Choir, but they hold no auditions for countertenors, so he asked to audition for soprano, a range in which he took first place in the University Interscholastic League's competition two years running.

But the Texas Music Educators Association told him no. Only girls can audition for soprano or alto and only boys can audition for tenor or bass.

[Association president Kerry] Taylor said the policy doesn't amount to discrimination because Rawls can try out for any of the more traditional male parts.

Now, that argument is ridiculous on its face; it's much the same as saying segregated schools aren't discrimination because blacks could still go to the "more traditional colored schools." But that's run-of-the-mill self-justifying inanity. What irritated me arose from the fact that Rawls says he can't do those lower parts well enough to make the Choir. What's more, singing them

makes his throat hurt. He's worried it also could hinder his ability to hit higher notes later. ...

Taylor said he's seen no medical evidence that singing tenor or bass can hurt a countertenor's voice.

And how did this policy of gender discrimi - oh, wait, we can't call it that, can we, so how about, uh, "distinction" - get started? According to TMEA spokeswoman Amy Lear, it was begun two years ago because of concerns that girls auditioning for tenor parts were hurting their voices by, uh - *ahem* - singing too low.

That kind of absurdity is truly annoying.