After making headlines last month for refusing to allow a transgender male student to run for prom king, a Central Pennsylvania school district said last week it will not amend its policies to be friendlier to transgender students.
In a May 3 letter to the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, attorneys for the Red Lion Area School District said the district will not permit senior Issak Wolfe’s chosen name to be read at graduation. Nor will the district change its policy that mandates students run for prom court according to their biological sex or adopt a trans-inclusive nondiscrimination policy.
The issue arose last month after several administrators told Wolfe he could run for prom king, but the Red Lion High School principal instead placed his name on the prom queen ballot. Wolfe’s girlfriend started an online petition, and the principal threatened to ban her from the prom. After intervention by the ACLU, the district allowed Wolfe and his date to attend the event.
The ACLU, however, requested that the district revise its prom-court policy and also allow Wolfe to wear the traditional black graduation gown assigned to male students and have his male name read. In its response, the district said Wolfe can wear the black gown but will be identified by his female name unless he legally changes his name prior to next month’s ceremony.
The agency had requested that the district expand its nondiscrimination policy to explicitly protect against gender-identity discrimination — it currently bans discrimination based on such factors as race, ethnicity, religion and sex — but the district said it was not required by law to do so.
“We think that various laws do prohibit discrimination based on gender identity but, unfortunately, this is an area where there isn’t a lot of case law,” said ACLU staff attorney Molly Tack-Hooper. “There isn’t a clear legal mandate directing schools to adopt this kind of nondiscrimination policy, but there are certainly legal arguments to be made that it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity. But it’s a good policy decision to enact something to prohibit other transgender students the pain and humiliation that Issak had to deal with.”
“I am really disappointed that the school district doesn’t want to do anything to protect transgender students,” added Wolfe, who plans to address the issues at the May 16 school board meeting.
The letter also noted that the district will proceed with planned diversity training next year for staff and faculty.