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A transgender senior student in Georgia, USA, spoke out after his high school removed his nomination from the prom king ballot鈥攁nd fellow students are rallying behind him.
Seventeen-year-old Dex Frier of Johnson High School was one out of six candidates nominated for prom king by the student body, as per Gainesville Times on March 20. Frier was moved by the overwhelming support of his fellow schoolmates, but this was cut short when he was told by school officials he can only be on the prom queen ballot.
Frier, whose birth name is Phenix, has identified as a male since his sophomore year in high school.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a choice,鈥� Frier said, according to the report.
The school鈥檚 decision prompted students to come out in support of Frier. An at Change.org, called 鈥淎llow transgender boy to run for Prom King,鈥� was launched and asked the school to allow Frier to remain as a male member of the prom court. The removal of Frier was apparently proposed by Will Schofield, superintendent of the Hall County Schools, to the high school.
鈥�Prior to Mr. Schofield鈥檚 interference, we, the Johnson High School student body, elected Dex Frier to represent us as a male member on Prom Court,鈥� the petition said. 鈥淭his was a free-response, purely democratic election system in which Dex was one of six males who received the most votes.鈥�
The petition also called out Schofield鈥檚 decision as 鈥渁n exposition of a transphobic attitude that endangers many more鈥� than just Frier.
鈥�Our request is simple: allow Dex Frier to remain as a male member of Johnson High School鈥檚 Prom Court. I hope that you stand with us, that you stand with Dex, against the transphobic attitude of Hall County Schools.鈥�
As of this writing, the petition has garnered almost 13,000 signatures out of its 15,000 goal.
Meanwhile, Schofield has since stated that the school district has never removed anybody from the prom court, as per the report. He also declined to respond publicly in regard to the issue to 鈥減rotect the rights of our student body.鈥�
鈥�I am not interested in being responsible for placing our school district in the middle of a national social, societal and legal issue, which would have the potential to substantially disrupt us from our core mission of providing an education for the boys and girls in our community,鈥� he was quoted as saying.聽
Frier, meanwhile, plans to attend their prom on Saturday, March 23, come what way.
鈥淚 will go to prom regardless of the outcome because I just want to be with my friends,鈥� he said in the report. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 want to be surrounded by any other people.鈥澛犅�Cody Cepeda /ra
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