News Item

PRINCIPAL GIVES HIGH HEELS ON BOYS THE BOOT

Chicago Free Press
Gary Barlow
July 31, 2002


A 15-year-old gay student at the Chicago High School for Agricultural  Sciences expressed disbelief last week after the school's assistant  principal allegedly told him he had to "dress as a boy" if he wanted to
remain at the school.

"I had on some high heels for about 10 minutes," the student said. "She told me as long as I was at the school, I would dress as a boy, that I would not wear anything feminine."

The student also said CHSAS assistant principal Martha Hamilton told him his long hair was "offensive" when she reprimanded him in a hallway July 24.

Hamilton denied making the comment about the student's hair but acknowledged that she told him he couldn't wear high heels.

"We don't allow boys to wear high heels and earrings," Hamilton said. "Girls can wear earrings."

Asked whether girls at the school, part of the Chicago Public Schools system, are allowed to wear high heels, Hamilton said, "Girls are allowed to wear whatever shoes are appropriate for girls. How many boys do you know who wear high heel shoes?" Hamilton said distinguishing what male and female students can wear is not discriminatory.

"It has nothing to do with his sexual orientation," she said. "Before (students) come here, we explain what our policies are. He's one of the ones who signs a contract to abide by them. If there's a problem with this, he can go somewhere else."

But the student said he feels the atmosphere at the school is not good for GLBT students, adding he's the only openly gay student he knows at CHSAS, 3857 W. 111th St.

"Everybody at that school, they look way down on it," he said.

He added that he's spoken about the atmosphere at the school with at least one teacher he knows is gay, but said the teacher told him if he spoke out about it, "he would only be causing trouble."

"It's not right for them to tell you how to dress," the student said. "There's other guys, straight guys, who wear their hair long and in braids, and they haven't said anything to them."

The student said Hamilton's actions "were very traumatizing" and expressed additional concerns after Hamilton, following an interview with CFP, called his mother.

CPS chief legal counsel Marilyn Johnson said the school system has a strict policy barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"I can tell you this is an issue that arises from time to time," Johnson said. "We deal with these on a case-by-case basis. We do take these seriously."

Johnson said she would discuss the issue with Hamilton and CHSAS officials and take appropriate action.

Rick Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois, expressed outrage at Hamilton's actions.

"It certainly should not be the business of the school to tell this kid what to wear," Garcia said. "If there's no dress code and the child wants to wear heels, then it's not appropriate for them to say he can't."

Each CPS school sets its own dress code. At CHSAS, that code is being revised, according to Hamilton. But Garcia and Johnson agreed that the code cannot be used to discriminate against GLBT students.

"It's entirely possible and necessary to accommodate (issues of) blanket discrimination," Johnson said.

The student, who returns to the school this fall as a sophomore, said he intends to continue dressing in a way that he feels is appropriate.

"I identify as whatever I put on in the morning," he said.