GOING BACKWARDS

Mississippi Trans Girl Skips Graduation After School Demands She Dress Like a Boy

“Our client is being shamed and humiliated for explicitly discriminatory reasons, and her family is being denied a once-in-a-lifetime milestone,” the girl’s attorney said.

A 17-year-old transgender girl in Mississippi will skip her graduation after a federal judge refused to block the high school officials’ demand that she dress like a boy in order to attend the ceremony, the girl’s family attorney told ABC News on Saturday. Earlier this month, the Harrison County School District informed the girl that she was forbidden from wearing a white dress and heels to the ceremony, stating that since she was born a biological male, she must wear a button-down shirt, tie, and boy’s shoes. According to the girl’s family, she has been transgender her entire time in high school. On behalf of the girl and her family, the ACLU sued the district this week, prompting U.S. District Judge Taylor McNeel to uphold the school’s decision late Friday night. The school’s attorney argued that since the ceremony is voluntary and the girl is technically finished with high school, taking part in Saturday’s graduation isn’t a constitutionally protected right. “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,” ACLU attorney Linda Morris told ABC News. “No one should be forced to miss their graduation because of their gender.”

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Justin BaragonaSenior Media Reporter

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