Mona Shores students wore "Oak is my King" shirts in support of trans home coming king Oakleigh Reed.
MUSKEGON –
Students at Mona Shores High School are coming together in support of 17-year-old senior Oakleigh Reed, who was told that he could not be homecoming king, despite having received the majority of votes. "Oak is president of National Honors Society, in the top of our class, one of the best musicians in band, many teachers' favorite and very popular among the students," said fellow student and close friend Nick Schrier. "Why didn't they want him to win?"
The answer given by the school district is simple: Oak is registered for school as a female, and females don't get to be king. The homecoming dance has come and gone, and another young man was crowned, but Schrier and at least 30 other students are made a statement by wearing "Oak is my King" shirts to school last Friday.
"When I witnessed this injustice being committed, I had to do something. I thought Facebook would be a great way to organize schoolmates who thought action needed to be taken," Schrier said. "The support from the students shows how student discrimination is not the issue. It is the adults who are making unfair judgments. While there are prejudice problems everywhere, this story illustrates how the climate is changing.
"When my generation takes over these positions, we will see a more accepting world."
Schrier stressed that until now, he didn't believe that there had been a problem at his school with Reed or respecting diversity. He pointed out that Mona Shores has a Gay Straight Alliance, and that Reed was a popular, well-accepted kid.
"I'm sure Oak has had a lot of more intimate struggles, but as far as general attitudes and policies go, everything was going smoothly up until this point," he shared. "Before Oak officially 'came out,' teachers avoided using any gender specific pronouns; that is my memory. Once Oak announced his gender status, he received hundreds of comments on his wall congratulating him and letting him know the community supports him. Teachers graciously used male pronouns and students respected his wishes. We do not fully understand why the school decided now was the time to go back on all the progress."
Terry Babbitt, the superintendent of the Mona Shores School District, said that because schools must abide by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, he can't disclose the exact legal rationale for the decision to deny Reed the title of king.
"I can say that this was not the first transgender issue that the school district faced," Babbitt said, adding that the school sought legal counsel when faced with the issue of Reed as homecoming king. "I want it to be clear that this decision came as the result of a legal opinion, and not the decision of the principle or the staff at the high school. Everyone is supportive of Oak, but we have to follow the legal advice we were given.
'Our high school has a very rich tradition of being a real nurturing environment for all students," Babbitt continued. "We're strongly supportive of Day of Silence. They cover controversial issues in our Sailor's Log student newspaper. Our past says more about what we are about than this one legal issue."
He added that he is proud of the students who are getting involved to support Oak. "We not only respect, but advocate that students get involved in the political process and have dialogue about issues."
Schrier is helping to bring attention to this issue by running the Oak is my King fanpage on Facebook. The page currently has over 11,000 fans.
"The media attention has been crazy," Schrier said. "Fortunately, this situation has opened up dialogue in the community about these types of issues. I hope people are getting the message about equality and acceptance.
However, he added, it has brought unnecessary negative attention to his school. "Our school is getting negative publicity," he said. "Mona Shores is a great district and, until this point, made accommodations for minority students. We love our school, but we must let them know they made a mistake. We hope that they learn from their mistakes to become a more accepting district."
To support Oakleigh Reed, search for "Oak is my king" on Facebook.
