ACLU says verdict of federal judge not to reverse decision in Gulfport, Mississippi is ‘as disappointing as it is absurd’
A transgender girl in Mississippi did not participate in her high school graduation ceremony Saturday because school officials told her to dress like a boy and a federal judge did not block the officials’ decision, an attorney for the girl’s family said.
Linda Morris, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Women’s Rights Project, said the ruling handed down late Friday by federal judge Taylor McNeel in the Mississippi city of Gulfport “is as disappointing as it is absurd”.
“Our client is being shamed and humiliated for explicitly discriminatory reasons, and her family is being denied a once-in-a-lifetime milestone in their daughter’s life,” Morris said. “No one should be forced to miss their graduation because of their gender.”
The ACLU confirmed that the 17-year-old girl – listed in court papers only by her initials LB – would skip the Saturday ceremony for Harrison Central high school in Gulfport, about 160 miles (260km) south of Jackson and 80 miles (129km) east of New Orleans.
