School won’t apologize for turning transgender student away at prom

By Michele Catahay – KUAM.com

The controversial topic of equal rights among gays, lesbians and transgenders has been brought to light recently, as “Jeremy” met with George Washington High School officials in hopes to get closure on the issue. Jeremy was turned away from his senior prom back in may after he wore a dress. School officials say there should be a transgender policy at the Department of Education.

The problem is that the GW administration wants nothing to do with drafting one.

Back in May, the George Washington High School senior told KUAM News he was turned away from the prom because he was wearing a dress. At the time, he said he felt discriminated against by school officials. “I said, ‘Where does it state in this rule in this paper that there’s no cross-dressing, no individualism and no opposite genders? It doesn’t say anything.’ So I have a case right here. And that’s wrong,” he stated.

Jeremy spent over $400 for his clothes, shoes and makeup, which all went to waste because he wasn’t able to attend his senior prom. Just recently, he met with school officials to settle the matter. He was asking for a refund on his ticket and for all the items he had purchased for the prom and a public apology. While Jeremy did receive a refund for the senior prom, evidently he didn’t receive anything more than that.

“There’s no need to make a public apology,” noted GW principal Begona Flores, “because we weren’t the ones that put it out in the public. He was the one that did so. There’s no need for a public apology from any of us, according to legal counsel, because we didn’t bring it out in public. He was the one that did.”

Flores says Jeremy wasn’t following proper guidelines established by prom chaperones.

While Jeremy is asking for a refund for all the money he spent on getting ready for the big night, Flores says the school doesn’t owe him anything else, adding, “He knew the attire. This is for male, this is for female. And he made the conscious decision to buy something else. So why should we be responsible?” She also said, “You cannot pick and chose when you want to be. You want to be this, then not this time. When you start picking and choosing, there’s no consistency here. And so we cannot blame other people because when I see Jeremy here, he’s a boy.”

Flores says it’s up to DOE and the Guam Education Policy Board to come up with a transgender policy to ensure this never happens again. But Flores admits that she will not be a part of drafting one because it goes against her beliefs. “I am not going to personally put myself in that position because I don’t believe in it. I don’t believe in it because I have my own personally beliefs and I am not going to deviate from them because those are my values and those are my beliefs,” she told KUAM News. “Of course I will uphold the policy and support the policy, but for me to spearhead something like that, something that goes against the grain of my beliefs and values, I don’t do that.”

Meanwhile, Jeremy tells KUAM that all he wants is fairness in the system, to ensure all people treated the same and not differently because of one’s sexuality.