"13 year old Ohio boy, Matt Alsup was forced to wash the make-up off of his face when school administrators said it was a distraction and against the dress code.
"When I spoke to the principal," his mother said, "She told me it was distracting because of the black makeup and I said, 'Well, I'll get him pink,' and she said no, because he's a male, he's not allowed to wear it, the public don't accept males wearing make-up."
Ball and her son point out that every student is required to wear a character badge – and one of the qualities it pledges is acceptance. "It says, 'do you value the uniqueness of all students?' and they're not letting me be unique," says the young man, Matt Allsup. "I don't see why we have to wear them if we're not able to express who we are."
Matt's mother, Mindy Ball: "They're gender stereo-typing. He's being sexually discriminated against. Nowhere in the rules does it say that males can't wear make-up".
Matt and his mother plan to hire and attorney and take the issue to court."
Contact the Hamilton City Schools District which is responsible for Garfield Middle School and others.
Email the superintendent, human resources, and the director of pupil personnel, as well as the principle of the middle school all in one email click here to express your outrage.
Garfield Middle School
250 Fair Ave, Hamilton, OH 45011
Office: 513-887-5035
Hamilton City Schools District
533 Dayton Street
P.O. Box 627
Hamilton, OH 45012
(513) 887-5000
Crossposted via our friends at Lesbiatopia
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9 comments:
I'd rather see that boy in makeup then the
boys I see with their pants down past their
butts and their underpanties showing to the
world.....Seeing a persons underpants in a
public place is NASTY! What does that boys
school say about that?
Have a great weekend!
HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is a shame they are tormenting him, I am sure the kid has enough to deal with amongst peers.
I wish the child the best. (Do we know if the kid identifies as male or female? I want to use the right pronouns.)
The school administrators have a tough job, but they need to learn the difference between a distraction and a learning opportunity. Jackaninnies.
I wish this didn't still happen; we're not in the Middle Ages for fuck's sake!
My bet? The school doesn't want the 'hassle' of protecting him from bullies and teaching their students actual "acceptance of uniqueness", so they're pressuring him(?) to conform. Douchenozzles.
Wow, I'm so glad his mother is so supportive of him. Good on her.
Gdad - I don't know the pronouns, which is why I labeled the post gender variant and not transgender. For purposes of contacting the school I would use "he" and refer to matt allsup's name so they know what you are talking about.
Saber - I am glad legal charges are going to be pressed against the school.
Preset - It really is great to see the mother not only being supportive but also proactive. yay PFLAG moms lol!
Damn. I graduated back in '97, and there were boys who wore full makeup, boys who wore skirts and dresses, some who had beautiful long hair back in french braids...
There was a gorgeous girl who shaved her head and rocked the look with cute floral dresses (I crushed on her, lol). Some girls attended the proms in tuxes, or wore the boy's uniform for choral.
I remember being shocked my Freshman year, but you know what? I got over it. Fast. And many of them became my friends.
If a school in a highly conservative state had no issue with this 15 YEARS ago, why is it a problem now, when so many strides have been made?
It doesn't seem that radical to me that a 13-year-old boy might choose to wear make-up. It's not exactly a new stylistic choice or so unusually that a teenager would want to individualize himself. I knew plenty of boys his age in the 90s (not to mention the fashions in the 80s!) who wore black eyeliner or nail polish and no one complained or thought anything of it. Matt may not even consider himself gay and/or transgender, since he certainly wouldn't have to in order to want to wear make-up.
Although, on a transgender/transsexual note, did you hear about a high school in Thailand opening a separate transsexaul restroom?
Cool mom. Way to go.
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