Long gone are the days when music class meant teaching children the classics or more modern tunes imparting messages of strong character, patriotism, and morality.
A Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) elementary school teacher recently taught middle schoolers to play a song about a gay bar, and parents want district leaders to address it.
A music teacher for Desert Hills Elementary School, Jerry “Michael” Nanney, taught his class to learn the viral hit song “Pink Pony Club” by LGBTQ+ pop singer Chappell Roan. Scottsdale Unites For Educational Integrity (SUFEI) first shared the incident on its social media pages.
Roan’s inspiration for the song came from her visit to a gay bar in California. The song provides a narrative of a young woman who forfeits her religious upbringing in Tennessee for a progressive, LGBTQ+ lifestyle in California. The official music video for the song features Roan dancing alongside drag queens and men in skimpy leather costumes.
“I heard that there’s a special place where boys and girls can all be Queens every single day,” reads the lyrics. “Won’t make my momma proud, it’s gonna cause a scene. She sees her baby girl, I know she’s gonna scream: God, what have you done? You’re a pink pony girl, and you dance at the club.”
The term “pink pony” is also an allusion to the LGBTQ+ slang term for male genitalia and sex.
Parents complained they were not provided an opt-out for this lesson, let alone notified.
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Desert Trails Elementary music teacher, Michael/Jerry Nanney, played the "boomwhacker" version of the song "Pink Pony Club" for 11-year-olds at Paradise Valley School District.The "Pink Pony Club" song was inspired by The Abbey, a famous gay bar in West Hollywood. The… pic.twitter.com/VQ3X9VSrWf
— Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity (@ScottsdaleUnite) November 21, 2025
According to parent accounts of their interaction with Nanney over this lesson, Nanney claimed no knowledge of these meanings behind “Pink Pony Club.” Rather, the elementary school teacher claimed the students selected the song from a list provided by him, and that he recognized the song merely as a tune popular among the youth.
“I wasn’t aware of the themes you mentioned, as I heard several Kidz Bop versions of the song,” said Nanney in an email to one parent, shared by SUFEI.
However, Nanney’s online footprint and community involvement elsewhere indicate he is deeply versed in LGBTQ+ culture.
Nanney, a recent Arizona State University (ASU) graduate, has regularly shared posts about drag queen news, updates, and culture per his since-deleted or privatized Facebook profile. SUFEI shared a screenshot from his profile in which he shared a Facebook post from the drag queen news page, DRAG Spotlight.
Nanney leads the Praise Team choir at an LGBTQ+-affirming assembly that claims itself to be a Christian church, the United Church of Sun City.
According to the assembly’s website, Nanney began attending and assisting their choir in September.
The assembly is part of the Open and Affirming (ONA) coalition. In order to qualify as an ONA entity, an assembly must explicitly affirm LGBTQ+ identities and lifestyles.
Nanney also decorated his classroom to express open advocacy for LGBTQ+ lifestyles and beliefs. A poster in his classroom door reads, “All Are Welcome Here” with a rainbow.
Prior to attending ASU for graduate school during the pandemic, Nanney hailed from Texas where he attended Stephen F. Austin State University.
Records show that while Nanney lived in Texas, he taught at Sheldon Independent School District, Klein Independent School District, and Houston Independent School District.
Per PVUSD governing board documents, Nanney was hired in late July on a $50,000 salary.
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