Male Student Given Suspension From School For Wearing Nail Polish
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| Trevor Wilkinson, a senior at Clyde High School in Texas, says he was suspended for his painted nails.Trevor Wilkinson |
An openly gay Texas teenager called out his high school after he was given in-school suspension for wearing nail polish.
Trevor Wilkinson, 17, said he originally received the suspension on Monday after he returned from Thanksgiving break with his nails painted, which violates his school's dress code.
"Imagine your school not allowing boys to paint their nails and giving boys iss [in-school suspension] for it," he said in a tweet on Monday. "And the whole administration being okay with it, homophobic and sexist? welcome to west texas."
That same day, the Clyde High School senior created a Change.org petition demanding that boys be allowed to wear nail polish.
Clyde, a town of just under 4,000, is about 135 miles west of Fort Worth.
The Clyde Consolidated Independent School District did not comment on the incident with Wilkinson but said in a statement Friday that it "conducts a diligent and thoughtful review" of its dress code policy on an annual basis.
"That review process results in the development of a final dress code that is consistently implemented and enforced during the next school year. Parents and students are provided a copy of the dress code prior to the start of each new school year," the district said.
"Questions or concerns with the dress code are reviewed individually, and the District cannot share any information regarding a specific student."
The student handbook says that men are prohibited from wearing makeup and nail polish. If a campus administrator determines that a student is in violation of the dress code the "student will be given an opportunity to correct the problem at school," it says.
"If not corrected, the student may be assigned to in-school suspension for the remainder of the day, until the problem is corrected, or until a parent or designee brings an acceptable change of clothing to the school. Repeated offenses may result in more serious disciplinary action in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct."
Wilkinson said that he believes the dress code is discriminatory.
"It's really sad to me because I feel like it's 2020 and we should be progressing and not taking steps back," he said in a phone interview Saturday. "And it makes me really sad because I know that there are other people who feel like this and feel like they can't express themselves and that they never will be able to because of people like this, who are not open-minded enough to see another perspective."
The teen said he met with the school's principal and vice principal and he was told that if he did not remove his nail polish, he would remain in suspension.
"I'm not taking off my nails and I'm staying in ISS because it's completely wrong," he said.
As of Saturday afternoon, more than 35,000 people had signed Wilkinson's petition to show their support. He said he hopes this encourages his school to change the dress code policy.
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