by David Safier
The above-the-fold photo on the front of today's NY Times' SundayStyles section shows 4 students from Rincon High under the headline, Can a Boy Wear a Skirt to School?
None of the students, male or female, appear to be wearing skirts, but the caption says that Rincon High is a place "where differences are protected."
The only mention of the school in the story, which talks about levels of acceptance — and lack thereof — at various high schools around the country, is this:
Other schools are more accepting of unconventional gender expression. In September, a freshman girl at Rincon High School in Tucson who identifies as male was nominated for homecoming prince. Last May, a gay male student at a Los Angeles high school was crowned prom queen.
During a faculty meeting back in 2002 when I was teaching at a high school just outside of Portland, OR, my principal addressed the issue of boys wearing skirts and dresses. This is pretty close to what he said.
"If a boy comes to your class in a dress and another student has a problem with that, the problem is the other student, not the boy in the dress. If he wants to wear a dress, that's his right, and if you have to defend his right against taunts from other students, do it. [Pause]. But if he spreads his legs and flashes the class, I want you to send him down to my office immediately!"
That makes sense to me, an intelligent distinction. Wearing a dress is a student's right to personal expression. Purposely causing a classroom disruption is not a right that goes along with it.
Rincon is the HS I graduated from! I gotta say they weren’t quite so protective 20-some years ago when I was the only boy in the ballet troupe 🙂 Glad to see they’ve made some progress.