The Trans Community

[SheilaT]

3. Here in New Mexico, there's been a local uproar about a trans person

graduating from high school. I honestly forget which way it goes, but the young person involved is a trans gender, who about a year ago legal changed his/her name to reflect his/her current status. Really, I don't recall which way it goes. For me, that's not the important part. What is important is that the local high school was insisting that this person wear the graduation gown of the birth gender, even though that person now identifies differently. It's something like blue for the guys, white for the girls.

When I graduated from high school nearly fifty years ago -- 1965 -- we had never heard of such things as a transgender person, and so of course no one questioned the two different colors of gowns. As I recall, the girls wore white, the boys wore green.

But the local thing has made me think very hard about this. There are at least two good solutions. One is that the graduate wear the color that person identifies with. The other, the better one in my opinion , is that all the students wear the same color. Period. End of problem.

I'm sorry to report that the young person referred to at the beginning chose not to attend the graduation, rather than wear the gown he/she no longer felt suitable.

We still have a long way to go.