School robs teen of homecoming king title
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Oakleigh Reed received the most votes for homecoming king at Mona Shores High School in Muskegon, Mich.
Should a transgender teen be able to wear the homecoming king crown?
The transgender teen, who friends call "Oak," let the school community know he was running for homecoming king on Facebook.
The honors student quickly became the leading candidate.
But then last Monday the principal called the 17-year-old into her office.
"They told me that they took me off because they had to invalidate all of my votes because I'm enrolled at Mona Shores as a female," Oakleigh told Wood TV.
Teachers use him, his, and he when referring to Oakleigh in class. The school has allowed him to wear a tuxedo when marching with the band at football games and he has been given permission to wear the male robe and cap at graduation.
But the district feels the homecoming race is different. Assistant Superintendent Todd Geerlings told Wood TV, "The ballots gave two choices -- vote for a boy for king and a girl for queen."
Outraged Mona Shores students created a Facebook group called Oak Is Our King. People all over the country--from Nashville, Tenn., to Seattle Wash., and the world (from the U.K. to Barcelona, Spain) are writing in with support and love.
Autumn Frampton writes on the page's wall: "Support from phoenix errorzona."
Lee Bernhang makes the case that the school administrators are acting unfairly: "With all the stories you see about bullying in school and how kids are picked on, here's a kid who is a little different who is actively involved in his school and accepted by enough of his peers to be voted homecoming king! This should have been an amazing example of how far the world has come in advancing equality for everyone in this country, and instead the school administrators ruined it. Shame on you, you should all be fired! There are kids dying over in Iraq for us to live free in the the US, and you do this? Amazing. Your ignorance is astounding. Look at the kid, he walks like a boy, talks like a boy thinks like a boy, and acts like a boy. He's not hurting anyone, he's just being him. WAKE UP AMERICA."
Mona Shores has already crowned its king so it's too late for the school to reverse its decision. But the Facebook page founders are encouraging Mona Shores students to wear "Oak is my King" T-shirts on October 1 to show administrators that they made a discriminatory decision. "Either make one yourself or ask for the design at the T-shirt store across from Blockbuster," the instructions read on the Facebook page.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is reportedly considering taking on this case, and Oakleigh told Wood TV that he'd talk with them.
What do you think? Did Mona Shores administrators unfairly strip Oak of the homecoming king crown?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/...id=73229&tsp=1
