High school graduation season won’t start for another five months, but seniors are already ordering their caps and gowns. And at one Kalamazoo high school, a student says the gowns don’t represent everyone.
Kalamazoo Central High School tradition calls for female students to wear white gowns at graduation and male students to wear maroon. But where does this leave transgender or non-binary students?
Alex Bol is a non-binary senior at K-Central and doesn’t feel that either color represents their identity.
“I don't like conform to like the gender binary, male, female, and things,” they said. “So when it came to picking a cap and gown, I didn't want to have to pick between white or red.”
Loy Norrix High School also uses two graduation gown colors. But at other high schools in the Kalamazoo area, students all wear the same color. K-Central did change its policy this year: Students can now choose either color, regardless of their gender.
Connar Klock of OutFront Kalamazoo, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said this could still cause problems for trans or non-binary students.
“It's still having to make a binary choice that is not making this person feel seen, heard, or feel safe in their own school,” they said.
Alex’s mother agrees.
“There's a lot of trans kids at school that most likely are not out to their parents,” she said. “They may be out at school, or their parents aren't accepting of it.”
In a statement, K-Central principal Valerie Boggan said the school surveyed seniors about the issue, and a majority voted to keep the two colors.
Alex says they do plan to participate in the ceremony. As to what they’ll wear...
“I would probably just pick white,” they said. “And then like, tie dye it or something.”
