Court of Injustice

By Devin Lauby

MHS dance courts leave out some of our most vulnerable students.

A couple weeks before homecoming, I was called down to the Student Services office. The school psychologist me that she and another teacher had compiled a list of the non-binary students in our school that they know of and were asking all of us if we wanted to be considered for homecoming “king or “queen”. I felt instantly numb at the prospect of answering this question. As someone who is neither mole nor female, it hadn’t even occurred to me that this kind of counter-intuitive question would be one I’d have to answer.

More than that, I was shaken by the fact that I had never comprehended just how non-inclusive and unnecessarily gender-dependent the tradition of homecoming court is, though it was always there. I thought about how my fellow gender variant students couldn’t be nominated onto homecoming court or win top honors as themselves; instead, they would be put in a category which neither respects nor validates their identity. All of this coming from a school system that claims to support some of our most vulnerable students. In light of homecoming and prom court, I realize that this claim is painfully untrue.

After fighting for my identity to be publicly recognized for so long, I didn't place myself on the ballot. I didn’t want to appease my transphobic harassers, who hate me simply for being born a certain way, nor could I participate in a non-inclusive tradition. Fortunately my decision didn’t affect me much in a literal sense- I wasn’t planning on going to homecoming or being on the court anyway. However, many gender variant students do wish to join these celebrations, and they deserve to be able to participate in the event as the gender they are, with the title they want. One day, there may be a gender variant person that is poised to be a part of the court, or even be voted homecoming royalty, but cannot because the homecoming titles and girl/boy voting setup leaves them out. An injustice is an injustice, and it is time to adopt an open-voting, gender-neutral homecoming court at McFarland High School.

Okay, so what is gender variance, exactly? It’s understandable if you know little to nothing about the topic, as it has only become a part of our public media and consciousness in the past five years or so, despite its presence in civilizations around the world for thousands of years (take the Mahus of Hawaii, Native American two-spirit people, the five genders of Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the dual-gendered god of ancient Incas, for example). A non-binary or gender-variant person is someone who experiences gender- not to be confused with sex, which is one’s biology rather than psychological identity- in a way that is neither male nor female. How exactly they identify tends to be a personal experience that varies for each non-binary person- androgynous, agender, genderfluid, bigender, neutrois, and pangender are some examples of different identities people embrace. An important distinction to note, however, is that while there ate many different titles of identity, a lot of the seemingly copious non-binary genders are actually very similar and only denote subtle, deeply personal differences. Because of this, some non-binary folk may identify with multiple genders, or their titles may change often, or they may be on the fence as to if an identity actually fits them or not due to its subtleties. Not all gender variant people use the same pronouns, either- while “they/them” is most associated with the group, some may prefer “he” or ”she,” or even a more obscure pronoun like “xe/xem.”

Transphobic people sometimes mock gender variants for having “5,000 genders” or some other over-exaggeration, but they do not recognize that, while there may be many similar titles for being non-binary, they all fall under the fundamental divergent category of “gender variant”. And besides, how someone experiences gender isn’t something anyone else has any control over. Deriding a non-binary person for “not being real” or “seeking attention” because you don’t understand their experience isn’t going to do a thing in changing them but only make them feel unwanted and aggravate mental health issues. It is partially because of that sort of harassment and invalidation of personhood that transgender and gender variant people have a 41% likelihood of attempting suicide in their lifetime compared to 4.6% of the overall U.S. population (AFSP and The Williams Institute). That is a staggering statistic. The best course of action to take when a non-binary peer is explaining their gender to you is to listen, and attempt to understand their experience, whether or not it is an identity you can personally relate to. Gender is personal- it cannot be given not taken away from you- and we should celebrate when people find joy and peace with that aspect of themselves unconditionally.

While it is great to discuss gender theory in an academic sense, the day-to-day life of a non-binary person doesn’t include statistics and definitions. Often there are hurdles to overcome, like being harassed, belittles, discriminated against, people not respecting pronouns, and more. Yet another hurdle is created by the school’s rigidly gendered homecoming policy.

Not only are gender variant kids affected by the king/queen setup, but it is also heteronormative. If we simply voted two people who could then decide what they want their title to be, it would open up the process to couples of all genders and all sexualities. As time goes on, LGBT people are only going to become more prevalent and outspoken. The U.S. LGBT population has grown from 8 million to 10 million in the last 5 years, and is poised to continue growing (Gallup Daily Tracking), and we need to change our traditions in order to accommodate LGBT couples, which are normal, common, and deserving of inclusion.

More and more high schools are already adopting gender neutral homecoming/prom courts. In 2015, Madison West High School made the switch, the first school in Wisconsin to do so. In a statement to TODAY Parents, Principal Beth Thompson said, “My hope is that students who are not feeling included and valued now really feel like they have a place at the table ...my hope is that the selection process is really nomination kids who are representing what we value here and the diversity of our school so that it really can be a school-wide celebration.” Students from West’s GSA collected over 1,00 signatures which helped enact the change. Another school from Maryland made waves with their gender neutral court, and their Straight Gay Alliance president said, “It is really not out job, especially with a gender-neutral and transgender population at B-CC, to tell people that boys have to be kings and girls have to be queens. Who are we to put people into those categories?” Both schools have open court voting, and those honored are allowed to choose their title- king, queen, or royalty. UW- Eau Claire, UW-Stout, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Iowa are some of the colleges nearest to us that have followed suit.

Fortunately, while the dance courts are still a burden, there has been some administrative action at MHS to protect transgender students in recent years, including the following; revamping staff bathrooms as all inclusive spaces, allocating gender neutral locker spaces, and decreasing the use of boy/girl distinctions as organizational tools in the classroom (which incidentally has the potential to out a trans student before they’re ready). Progress has been made, but we still have a lot of work to do. Fellow non-binary student Cedar Heller says: “We need education, because there are many more people at this school outside the gender binary than people think. More awareness and maybe a gender identity unit somewhere would educate people and normalize [gender] tolerance.” Changing the dance courts would not only level the playing field for all people, but raise community awareness of this issue.

That being said, changing our school’s system and its traditions will likely meet resistance. My goal is not to demonize those people who don't understand the transgender perspective and life experiences, nor is it my goal to demonize a long-held tradition; I merely aspire to encourage the loosening of traditional restraints when they act as harmful and exclusionary boundaries. My goal is not to create cushioned safe spaces, nor is it my goal to inhibit free expression, but rather to allow people to identify as their true selves at our school. To those who have the privilege of not experiencing bullying and subjugation for their gender: I have nothing against you. I’m just asking that you stand up and be an extremely powerful, meaningful thing - an ally.

Other schools have achieved gender neutral homecoming courts successfully. Until we make this switch as well, and support an non-gender specific voting process and personal title choice, a key MHS tradition will continue to leave our growing student gender variant and transgender population on the sidelines.