Transgender graduates absent from ceremony as judge upholds school rules on gender-based dress code

A Mississippi transgender student skipped Saturday’s graduation ceremony after a judge upheld a gender-based dress code at the school system’s ceremony, according to the student’s legal team.

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the Harrison County School District on behalf of students who identify as biologically male but female so that the 17-year-old can wear women’s clothing by graduation.

In Friday’s ruling, a federal judge upheld the school district’s requirement that graduating boys wear “socks, dress shoes, pants, button-down shirts and ties.”

U.S. District Judge Taylor McNeill said in her ruling, referring to students with masculine pronouns, that “the loss of the opportunity to participate in graduation ceremonies unconstitutionally violates the right of students to exercise their religious beliefs freely.” It does not infringe on the

The boy, identified as LB only in court documents, decided to skip Saturday’s commencement ceremony at Harrison Central High School after being sentenced.

“Our client has been humiliated and humiliated for clearly discriminatory reasons and her family has been denied a once-in-a-lifetime milestone in her daughter’s life,” said ACLU staff attorney Linda M. Morris told the Associated Press. “No one should be forced to miss graduation because of their gender.”

The student is said to have worn the dress to prom as well as class last year. The complaint also said Superintendent Mitchell King told LB’s mother that she had to dress “like a boy” if she was to attend the ceremony.

The school district’s attorney said the student was eligible for a high school diploma.