A transgender girl in Mississippi did not participate in her high school graduation ceremony on Saturday because school officials told her to dress like a boy and a federal judge did not block the officials’ decision, an attorney for the girl’s family said.
Linda Morris, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Women’s Rights Project, said the ruling handed down late on Friday by federal judge Taylor McNeel in the Mississippi city of Gulfport “is as disappointing as it is absurd”.
“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,” Morris said. “No one should be forced to miss their graduation because of their gender.”
The ACLU confirmed that the 17-year-old girl – listed in court papers only by her initials, LB – would skip the Saturday ceremony for Harrison Central high school in Gulfport, about 160 miles (260km) south of Jackson and 80 miles (129km) east of New Orleans.
The student “has met the qualifications to receive a diploma”, according to the local public school district’s attorney, Wynn Clark.
The ACLU sued the district on Thursday on behalf of the student and her parents after Harrison Central principal Kelly Fuller and school district superintendent Mitchell King told LB that she must follow the boys’ clothing rules. Graduating boys are expected to wear white shirts and black slacks, and girls are expected to wear white dresses.
LB had selected a dress to wear with her cap and gown. The lawsuit said LB had worn dresses to classes and extracurricular events throughout high school, including to a prom last year, and she should not face discriminatory treatment during graduation.
King told LB’s mother that the teenager could not participate in the graduation ceremony unless LB wears “pants, socks, and shoes, like a boy”, according to the lawsuit.
Clark wrote in court papers on Friday that taking part in a graduation ceremony is voluntary and not a constitutionally protected right for any student.
Mississippi is among the US states that have pursued a barrage of restrictions pertaining to transgender youth medical care, sports participation and bathroom use. Earlier this year, the state’s conservative governor, Tate Reeves, signed into law a legislative bill which prohibits health professionals from providing both hormone treatments and surgical procedures to transgender minors.
Such gender-affirming care is medically necessary and potentially lifesaving for children and adults diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
At the time the bill was signed, Reeves said the law indicated to children they are “beautiful the way they are” and do not need to “take drugs and cut themselves up with expensive surgeries in order to find freedom from depression”.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
