Judge denies trans student’s plea to be free to wear dress at graduation
Published 4:40 pm Saturday, May 20, 2023
- In this June 27, 2020, file photo, Saltillo High School seniors make their way to the football field as the sun begins to set for their graduation ceremony in Saltillo, Miss. The number of high school seniors applying for U.S. federal college aid plunged in the weeks following the sudden closure of school buildings this spring — a time when students were cut off from school counselors, and families hit with financial setbacks were reconsidering plans for higher education. (Thomas Wells/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP, File)
A judge will not block the Harrison County School District from requiring a trans girl to dress as a boy for her graduation ceremony Saturday.
The order was given from the bench late Friday night after attempts to settle the matter in conference and a hearing Friday afternoon, according to court records
The student, a 17-year-old senior at Harrison Central High School, has been openly transgender for her entire high school career and has “frequently and consistently worn dresses, skirts, and traditionally feminine clothing items and accessories to school and school-sponsored events and activities, without issue or repercussion,” according to the original complaint.
The ACLU sued the district Thursday after the student, referred to as L.B. in court documents, was told last week that she would not be able to wear a dress to graduation as she had been planning and would not be able to participate in the ceremony if she did wear a dress. Harrison Central High School Principal Kelly Fuller told L.B. in the course of the conversation that it was prompted by Harrison County Superintendent Mitchell King calling the school and asking what transgender students would wear to graduation.
The judge ruled that the case did not meet the standard to grant “extraordinary relief in changing the status quo in a short time period,” as reported by WLOX. The judge said there is limited case law regarding dress codes for transgender people and that similar cases did not exist.
The lawsuit alleged gender discrimination as a violation of constitutional rights and federal law, specifically Title IX, the First Amendment’s freedom of expression clause, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. The response from the school district argued that L.B. does not have a federally protected right to attend a voluntary graduation ceremony.
The Harrison Central High School graduation is scheduled for Saturday, May 20, at 6:30 p.m.
