Mississippi transgender high school teens will not attend graduation after being banned from wearing dresses

A transgender Mississippi high school student will not attend graduation after a federal judge said Friday that the school district could bar the teen from wearing a dress from walking across the stage and picking up her “long-awaited diploma”.

A 17-year-old transgender girl and her parents filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Mississippi this week against the Harrison County School District after school officials notified the girl May 9 that “she cannot attend or participate in her high school graduation ceremony while wearing a dress and shoes.” rights,” the court documents said.

Administrators at Harrison Central High School notified the teen less than two weeks before the event that there was a dress code policy for the May 20 graduation that stated girls “must wear a white gown and formal shoes”, and boys “must wear white buttons”. -shirt, black pants, black shoes, and a tie or bow tie,” according to court documents. Administrators said the teenager must comply with the boy’s dress code.

The lawsuit stated that school administrators refused to back down from imposing the dress code even though the teen “had attended high school as a girl and had lived every aspect of her high school career as a girl.”

“There is no lawful interest or justification,” to refuse the teen to wear a gown at the “last and possibly most important event of her high school career,” the lawsuit read.

Following Friday’s hearing, the judge ruled against the teen’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the school district’s decision for “reasons stated at trial.”

“Our client needs to focus on celebrating this life milestone with his friends and loved ones,” the Mississippi ACLU said in a social media post. “Instead, this ruling brings shame and humiliation on a day that should be centered on joy and pride.”

Graduation at Harrison Central High School—a public high school in Gulfport, Mississippi with more than 1,500 students—is scheduled to take place Saturday night at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, according to the district’s website.

Requests for comment to administrators at Harrison Central High School were not immediately returned.