a georgia high school told a trans girl she could run for homecoming king instead. be so serious.
via Atlanta News First, WSB-TV, CBS News Atlanta and The Advocate
Riley Williams paid the dues. She took the campaign headshot. Then, she told Atlanta News First, Charles R. Drew High School informed her she would not be allowed to run for homecoming queen, but that she could run for homecoming king.
Williams is a transgender girl and a senior at Drew, in Riverdale, just south of Atlanta. "Forcing me to run for something like homecoming king would invalidate my experience as a woman," she said. The generous offer of a crown she does not want has been declined.
what the district said
Clayton County Public Schools gave WSB-TV and CBS News Atlanta the same statement, and it is a masterpiece of a district trying to be in two places at once. "Under the current federal interpretation and enforcement of Title IX, gender-based distinctions are recognized based on biological sex," it reads, so where an activity is designated by gender, the district goes by "the birth gender reflected in a student's official educational records." Then: "while the District does not have a policy that speaks to students participating in Homecoming Court based on gender identity, we adhere to the current practice of allowing that participation in accordance with traditional birth gender."
So there is no policy, and the policy is birth gender. As The Advocate points out, the statement names no federal provision that actually requires a school to keep a trans girl off a homecoming ballot. The district also told Atlanta News First that ignoring federal guidelines could put its federal funding at risk, and that it believes this is the first time a trans student in the district has wanted to run for homecoming court. A first, met with a no.
Williams answered the obvious objection before anyone could raise it. "There's no competitive advantage," she told Atlanta News First. "As a matter of fact, people are less likely to vote for me." Homecoming queen is a popularity contest with a sash. Nobody has ever been accused of having an unfair advantage at it except the girl who peaked in tenth grade.
the county name you know
If Clayton County sounds familiar, it should. In 2020 the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that firing someone for being gay or transgender is sex discrimination under federal law. Gerald Bostock was a child welfare advocate for Clayton County, Georgia, fired shortly after he joined a gay recreational softball league. The school district is a separate body from the county government, and Bostock was a workplace case under Title VII rather than a school case under Title IX. But it is still a little remarkable that the place whose name is on the landmark ruling is now where a trans girl cannot be on a homecoming ballot.
Williams has started a Change.org petition asking Georgia education officials and local school boards to let students take part based on gender identity. "School should be a place of acceptance, where every student can express themselves freely and authentically," she wrote. It had 1,055 verified signatures last Wednesday, per WSB, and nearly 1,900 by Monday, per The Advocate.
She knows it will not change anything for her. A queen will be crowned at Drew this year, and Atlanta News First reports it will not be her. "I'm not doing this for me," she said. "I'm doing it for the next transgender person who decides to run for the role that makes them feel comfortable." Which, frankly, is more grace than the job requires, and exactly the energy of someone who should have been on that ballot.
