Trans student forbidden from wearing dress to Mississippi Coast graduation, lawsuit says
With less than 48 hours before graduation, a Mississippi Coast school district may not allow a transgender student to walk across the stage and receive her high school diploma if she chooses to wear a dress.
The ACLU on Thursday filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court to allow the Harrison Central High student, referred to as L.B., to be allowed to dress as she wishes and not be forced to wear boy’s clothes.
The emergency injunction was filed on behalf of the student and her parents, Samantha and Henry Brown.
The graduating senior has been transgender throughout her high school career, and she regularly wears “dresses, skirts and traditionally feminine clothing items and accessories to school and school-sponsored events and activities, without issue or repercussion,” the lawsuit says.
On May 9, school administrators told L.B. she could not attend or participate in her high school graduation ceremony if she wore a dress and heels, citing the Harrison Central high dress code policy that says girls must wear a white dress and dress shoes and boys must wear a white button-down shirt, black dress shoes, black dress pants and a tie or bowtie, the complaint says.
The school’s policy, which was shared via Facebook on April 22, does not explicitly discuss sex or gender and does not say students must dress according to their sex assigned at birth.
“Defendants have offered no rationale that could justify the severe and ongoing deprivation of Plaintiff’s constitutional and statutory rights to be free from gender discrimination,” the lawsuit says.
It further alleges that the school declining to reconsider and allow L.B. to dress as she chooses “during the final and perhaps most important event of her high school career, serves no legitimate interest or justification.”
The lawsuit alleges 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 temporary restraining order asks the court to prohibit the district from taking action for alleged noncompliance with its graduation dress code policies, according to Mississippi Today.
Superintendent questions dress code for trans students
The lawsuit names the Harrison County School District, the school board, Superintendent Mitchell King and Harrison Central High Principal Kelly Fuller as defendants in the case.
According to the complaint, here’s what happened that eventually ended with L.B. being told she couldn’t wear a dress to graduation:
- On May 4, Harrison Central High Assistant Principal Christopher Spencer told L.B. that Fuller would be reaching out to discuss a matter.
- On May 9, Fuller called L.B. to the principal’s office and asked what she planned to wear to graduation. When L.B. replied that she planned on wearing a dress that she and her mother picked out, Fuller informed her she would have to wear boy’s clothes to graduation.
- Fuller told L.B. the meeting was prompted by King, who called and asked what trans students would be wearing to graduation.
The next day, Samantha Brown, L.B.’s mother, called King to ask about the dress code rule. King told her that L.B. would not be able to participate in graduation if she wore a dress and heels. Samantha Brown also claims King told her that L.B. “is still a boy” and that “he needs to wear pants, socks, and shoes, like a boy.”
On May 11, L.B. was handed the graduation dress code on the principal’s letterhead that outlined the policy when she picked up her cap and gown.
Lawyer asks MS school district to reconsider
The Browns hired lawyers, who reached out to the school district’s attorneys on May 16 via email and asked that they reconsider their stance, the complaint says. After reaching out a second time on May 17, the school district said they would not reconsider, prompting the emergency injunction filing in U.S. District Court.
Mississippi Today, who first published the story, reached out to the Harrison County School District and did not receive a response by time of publication on Thursday.
According to an ACLU press release, the district has not taken any action to check the planned outfits of any other students.
The Harrison County School District has yet to file a response to the injunction. A lawsuit represents one side of a story.
This story was originally published May 18, 2023 at 9:50 PM.
