Media Trail

Men’s college nixes cross-dressing

CNN. com reports an all-male college in Atlanta has banned the wearing of women’s clothes and makeup as part of a new crackdown on inappropriate attire.

The ban is part of a larger dress code recently launched at Morehouse College, which also bans pajamas in public, do-rags, sagging pants and walking barefoot on campus.

The dress ban is aimed at a small part of the private college’s student body, said Dr. William Bynum, vice president for Student Services.

“We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men,” he said.

Antigay singer banned

Advocate.com reports a performer who sang a homophobic song at an event in Reidsville, N.C., will never be hired there again.

Matt Boswell and the Hillbilly Blues Band performed Oct. 10 at Reidsville’s popular fall festival. While singing a version of Merle Haggard’s “Are the Good Times Really Over for Good?” Boswell sang, “All you Wall Street bankers, as far as I’m concerned, you can all go to hell / And you can’t get married, you stupid gays and queers, so why don’t you go somewhere else?”

Reidsville city manager Kelly Almond said Boswell’s language “was absolutely unacceptable” and that he would never be booked by the city again.

District to lesbian: No tux photo

Google News reports a Mississippi school superintendent said Oct. 16 that federal court rulings back up a decision to keep a lesbian’s picture out of a high-school yearbook.

The Copiah County School District has refused to include the picture of 17-year-old Ceara Sturgis wearing a tuxedo.

District superintendent Rickey Clopton said federal court decisions support the policy at the school located south of Jackson.

Sturgis, who dresses in male clothing, said wearing a drape like the other female seniors was a misrepresentation of how she identifies herself.

The ACLU of Mississippi told officials that the teen’s First Amendment rights were violated and legal action could follow if Sturgis’ photograph isn’t accepted.

— Larry Nichols

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