The graduation ceremony is a momentous occasion for high school students, a celebration of their academic achievements, and a milestone in their lives. Unfortunately, for one 17-year-old transgender student in Mississippi, this momentous occasion was ruined by what many claims were a clear case of discrimination. The student, identified as L.B. in court documents, was forbidden from wearing a dress and heels to her graduation ceremony by a federal judge, much to the dismay of her parents, Samantha Brown and Henry Brown. The plea was made on Thursday and denied by Friday, causing the transgender teen to miss out on her graduation ceremony altogether, according to CNN.
L.B.’s parents had filed a federal lawsuit against the Harrison County School District for violating their child’s civil rights and discriminating against her for her sex and gender. The student had already picked out her dress for the ceremony and heels, and since she identifies as female, she technically wouldn’t have been breaking any dress codes for that reason, the lawsuit argued. “Students are expected to wear dress shoes, dress clothes (dresses or dressy pant-suit for girls and dress pants, shirt, and tie for the boys),” part of the policy read for the school’s graduation attendees.
Despite this lack of specificity in the policy when it comes to transgender people, the judge still denied L.B.’s plea to wear a dress and heels, citing her apparent violation of the dress code. “My graduation is supposed to be a moment of pride and celebration and school officials want to turn it into a moment of humiliation and shame,” the girl in court docs. #Socialites, was the judge wrong for denying her request?
In the filed court papers, the teen added, “The clothing I’ve chosen is fully appropriate for the ceremony and the superintendent’s objections to it are entirely unfair to myself, my family, and all transgender students like me. I have the right to celebrate my graduation as who I am, not who anyone else wants me to be.”
What’s more, the 17-year-old had been part of the transgender community since she first started at the school, so this was not a request she would have made out of the blue. She’s identified as a transgender woman right from the start, so it seemed odd that her decision to show up in a dress and heels could be deemed problematic for the school, particularly at graduation.
“The Board further finds and determines that a high school graduation ceremony is a sacred and inspirational ritual which is intended to be surrounded with the decorum of dignity, grace, solemnity, reverence, pomp, and circumstance,” the school policy states. “Students whose attire does not meet the minimum dress requirements may not be allowed to participate in the graduation exercises.”