Kami Pham was told Monday by Jeff Roberts, principal of Southwood High School in Caddo Parrish, Louisiana, that pictures she had taken of herself would not be allowed in the school yearbook because they were "too feminine."
Pham also said Roberts told her after rejecting the photos that she could not wear a wig, heels and makeup to the school's graduation ceremony. The short conversation occurred just before spring break in a Southwood hall early one morning before classes started, she said.
I got highly upset. What killed me was when my principal had told me that I should not dress after hours. I don't dress inappropriately. ... When he said that, I felt like I was a prostitute. That was very, very rude.
--Kami Pham
But on Tuesday the Caddo Parish School District said in a statement that the district dress code does not impede students' First Amendment right to express themselves in what they wear.
Claims of dress code violations at Southwood are rare, said Tatjana Cotton, a friend of Kami's.
He's very relaxed with dress code,. The chance for someone to get in trouble for dress code is the chance for someone to get struck by lightning.
--Cotton
The apparent reversal came during a meeting Tuesday morning attended by Roberts; Pham; Pham's mother; Deborah Allen, a leader in Shreveport's LGBTQ community; the Southwood counselor; and the student body president, Allen said.
The official statement:
Recently allegations have been made concerning the rights of transgender students at Southwood High School and schools in our district. While federal and state law prohibits the district commenting on individual student cases, the district’s position is clear: Caddo Parish stands by the First Amendment right of students to express themselves and that belief is supported within the Caddo Parish School Board’s approved dress code policy. This expression is without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
--Mary Nash-Wood, school district spokesperson