Indiana student sent home over T-shirt that condemns homophobia and racism, sparks protests

Dress codes lean archaic and sexist from the jump—how often are young women policed for the length of their shorts or the rise of their tops? Dress codes tend to be rife with double standards (how often are female students pulled out of class or humiliated over their bodies in comparison to their male peers?) and can be especially tough on students who have non-traditional forms of gender expression. Something else? According to one student at Highland Hills Middle School, this southern Indiana middle school is experiencing a whole different kind of dress code drama. And it’s now led to students walking out in solidarity and protest.

According to Renee Williams, one of the 13-year-old girl’s mothers, the student was pulled out of physical education and told she was violating the dress code by wearing a T-shirt that reads, “Why be racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic when you can just be quiet?” All in, a message that exudes inclusion and equality… Two concepts that should be stressed in middle school, not debated. 

Anyway. Williams shared their account (and a picture of her child wearing said T-shirt) on a Facebook post, as reported by the Courier Journal. She also participated in an interview (embedded below) about the situation.

After the teenager was pulled out of class, she was sent to the school’s office. Principal Wendy Ivey, according to the student, said that the shirt didn’t necessarily violate the dress code. So what’s the issue? That from a distance, the only words you can see are “sexist” and “homophobic.” Hmm, OK…

“She said that my shirt was inappropriate and could be seen as disrespectful,” recalled the student.

From there, according to the student, the principal gave her a few options. Wear a different shirt (provided for physical education classes), put on a jacket, or turn the shirt in question inside out. She agreed to put her own hoodie over the shirt. Then the situation continued.

The student recalls that after PE, she went to lunch. At the cafeteria, she says a teacher was at her table and advised her that there was nothing in the rule book that condemned her shirt. So the student says she removed her hoodie—then ran back into the principal.

Here is where, according to the student, the principal’s rationale on having her take off the shirt changed. According to the student, Principal Ivey then said she couldn’t wear the shirt because “it has my opinion and sexuality on it.”

“She said this in front of 6 LGBTQ+ kids,” the student continued. “We all feel like we are being targeted.”

The student said she told the principal that other staff (meaning: the teacher at the lunch table) said that the shirt wasn’t a dress code violation. This is when the principal reportedly brought her a different T-shirt and said, “You can put this on and go to class or you can stay here.”

“I put my hoodie back on ONLY because I didn’t want to be in trouble with my parents,” the student continued. “My moms showed up and said that I would be in NO trouble at home so I decided to keep my sweatshirt off.”

“As a school district, we do all we can to maintain the integrity of a focused age-appropriate learning environment,” district spokesman Bill Briscoe wrote to the Courier Journal in an email. “This includes minimizing potential distractions as they arise.”

On Thursday, an estimated 70 of the student’s classmates walked out of class in a solidarity protest. 

“We would stand up and link arms,” student Chris Duff told WDRB. “We like had posters with like ‘no hate.’”

Words like “age-appropriate” and “distractions” tend to be both broad and coded. What’s considered distracting? Who decides what qualifies as “age-appropriate” for an entire student body? In this case, is a T-shirt that promotes tolerance really not school appropriate? In some schools, it’s probably possible to find these shirts passed out as part of a community spirit day.

The student’s parents reached out to a school board member with exactly that point, and report that they got a pretty upsetting reply. 

“He said that if we let her wear her shirt to school, then what’s to keep us from having white supremacists come in wearing swastikas on their shirts,” the student’s stepmother said.

Ah, yes. The age-old argument. If a child wears a T-shirt that condemns homophobia and sexism, what will stop another child from wearing one that…promotes white supremacy? Nazism? Because when we promote tolerance, we’re also promoting… hate? Hmm.

“She has four moms, she does have people in her life that are black, she has people in her life that are Hispanic, and she has people in her life that are trans,” Williams continued. “Of course she is a growing girl herself so she’s going to learn all about sexism.”

Sounds like this school needs a whole lot of diversity training—and at least one 13-year-old deserves an apology.

Here’s the interview, courtesy of YouTube: