Mississippi school in trans trouble over graduation dress code

A high school in Mississippi’s Harrison County School District has forbidden the transgender child of Samantha and Henry Brown from dressing as a girl during the school’s upcoming graduation ceremonies. The Browns’ son “L.B.” identifies” as a girl and had planned to wear high heels and a dress to the event. The Browns took the school to court over the matter and now a federal judge has ruled in favor of the school, so L.B. will not be attending. We’ll get to the dress code questions and gender-bending in a moment, but this entire mess seems overly intrusive to me on the part of the school board. Was this really that big of a deal?

A Mississippi federal judge denied a motion Friday, filed by the family of a transgender high school student requesting she be allowed to wear a dress and heels under her robe at her Gulfport high school graduation.

The 17-year-old, identified in court documents by her initials “L.B.,” will not attend her graduation, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi.

L.B. and her parents, Samantha Brown and Henry Brown, filed the federal lawsuit Thursday demanding Harrison County School District allow the teen to wear what she wishes during Saturday’s graduation ceremony from Harrison Central High School.

Reportedly, L.B. has been “out” as being transgender since he began attending the school as a freshman. He’s dressed as a girl the entire time, including at the recent prom where he similarly wore a dress and high heels as he planned to do for graduation. This isn’t one of those cases where a school is indoctrinating a kid and hiding it from the parents. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. The parents were the ones who filed the lawsuit so they’ve apparently bought in on the whole transgender thing.

It’s one thing when schools push children toward hormone therapy, puberty blockers, or even (God forbid) surgery. People who do that should be fired and if at all possible, arrested. But we’re talking about clothing here. It’s none of my business how other adults dress provided they’re not violating obscenity laws. And I’m having a hard time justifying related restrictions on teenagers if their parents aren’t opposed to it, which in this case they clearly are not.

Also, we’re talking about a graduation ceremony. All of the students will be wearing caps and gowns anyway so you’ll barely be able to tell what they’ve got on underneath. Was one boy in a dress really going to be that big of a disruption when all of the other students and teachers already knew how he typically dresses? (And while we’re on the subject, where has the outrage been for all these years over boys being made to wear a “gown” at graduation?)

I can understand the school’s position to a certain extent. They do have a formal dress code published for graduation ceremonies and all of the parents signed off on it, including the Browns. The school specifies “dress shoes, dress clothes (dresses or dressy pant-suit for girls and dress pants, shirt, and tie for the boys.” And the administration says that they define gender by the sex indicated on the student’s birth certificate. That’s probably why the judge sided with the school. Also, the school hasn’t “banned him.” They’re enforcing the dress code.

But this still seems a bit severe, doesn’t it? Clothing choices and fashion options have been evolving for as long as there have been people. As I’m typing this article, I’m wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt. (Because I work from home and I can be comfortable.) And I’ve never had any questions or confusion about the fact that I’m a male. But if you went outside and saw a girl walking down the sidewalk in jeans and a t-shirt would you even notice?

As I said, though, this all just seems like a bit much. I wish someone would be working to get L.B. some counseling to deal with his gender confusion issues, but the parents are encouraging it instead, so it’s really not our business. And since this is high school graduation, he’ll be an adult soon, so the entire point will be moot. It just feels to me like the school could have turned a blind eye in this instance, and let the kid proceed with graduation, and move on.