On the heels (sorry) of that story from Mississippi about the trans girl they wouldn’t let wear a dress and heels under her graduation gown comes this story from Oklahoma. The governor there (a Cherokee!) just had his veto overriden by the legislature on this bill:
It would allow any student at a public school, including colleges, universities and technology centers, to wear tribal regalia such as traditional garments, jewelry or other adornments during official graduation ceremonies. Weapons such as a bow and arrow, tomahawk or war hammer are specifically prohibited.
AP: Oklahoma Legislature overrides governor’s veto of tribal regalia bill
Again, I didn’t understand there was such a furor over what kids are wearing underneath a graduation gown that covers up 90% of what they’re wearing.
I’m absolutely in support of this law, but I’m concerned that it needs to be passed in the first place? What’s with this policing of graduation dress codes in America? Let the kids express themselves on one of the happiest days of their lives: the day they finally escape the twelve-year sentence of rote memorization and inculcation to the meaningless busy work and scheduled emotional regulation necessary to become just smart enough to be efficient cogs in the capitalist machine and just dumb enough to accept it.
But within his veto message , I do think the governor accurately predicted the future.
Stitt also suggested the bill would allow other groups to “demand special favor to wear whatever they please at a formal ceremony.”
Well, yeah. If a Native has a right to wear tribal regalia, does that extend to Polynesian natives in Hawai’i? Will a grass skirt shed on the podium?
Can kids of European descent wear lederhosen or kilts or babushkas? Indian kids in Nehru jackets? Japanese in kimonos? Again, why not, it’s mostly covered by a graduation gown!
What better symbol for a graduating class than to simultaneously be uniform in all wearing the same color graduation gown yet distinct in having personal fashions representing our melting pot of cultures? That’s as e pluribus unum as you can get.
And yes, that means Oklahoma doesn’t have a leg to stand on if they want to ban a trans girl from wearing makeup and heels to graduation.
No. Wait. It’s Oklahoma. They will find an old, withered, hypocritical bigoted leg on which to stand precariously as they hurt the trans kid. Unless she’s a native trans kid, then I don’t know what happens; do they only allow native regalia corresponding to sex?