A transgender teen chose to skip her graduation after claiming her school demanded she dress "like a boy" for the event.
The 17-year-old Mississippi high school student - identified in court papers simply as L.B. - is part of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the school district on behalf of the girl and her parents.
L.B. was reportedly told by Harrison Central High School officials that she was expected to adhere to the boys' dress code for the graduation and wear "pants, socks, and shoes, like a boy," The New York Post reported.
She chose to miss the ceremony when she was told she had to wear boy's clothes to attend, stating (via CNN) she would "rather stand up for what's right than be humiliated."
Less than two weeks before graduation, L.B. says she was pulled into the school principal Kelly Fuller's office and asked what she was going to wear for graduation. "I told her I was going to wear a white dress, then she told me I was not going to be allowed to wear a dress, and I would have to wear boy clothes. And she stated that the Superintendent called her asking about what students would wear to graduation," L.B. said.
L.B. revealed she has attended the high school as a girl for the past four years, and had been to prom wearing a blue sparkly dress without any issues. "I was being me, and I felt very accepted at the time. I felt very understood. I felt that I had a great support system at that school," she said, per CNN.
On Friday last week (May 18) US District Judge Taylor McNeel upheld the school's decision and denied L.B.'s request to attend the ceremony in a dress and heels, with the school's attorney arguing that the ceremony was voluntary, so attending wasn't a constitutionally protected right.
However, Linda Morris, an attorney for the ACLU, said that this was as "disappointing as it is absurd." She added, per The New York Post: "Our client is being shamed and humiliated for explicitly discriminatory reasons, and her family is being denied a once-in-a-lifetime milestone in their daughter's life. No one should be forced to miss their graduation because of their gender."
After school officials learned L.B. planned to follow the girls' dress code, school superintendent Mitchell King told L.B.'s mother she could not participate in the graduation ceremony unless she dressed "like a boy", according to the suit. And although L.B. met the qualifications needed to graduate, the judge agreed with the school district's attorney, Wynn Clark, who stated that the voluntary ceremony is not a constitutionally protected right for any student, Insider reported.
Unfortunately, this is nothing new for the state of Mississippi, which has seen over 30 bills introduced this year that are aimed at limiting the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. In 2021, the state even became the first to ban transgender athletes from competing in women's and girls' sports.
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