Non-binary student wins battle against school that required short hair for non-female students

Parents and the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the school last October after the school punished several students, including a Latino 11-year-old boy who wore a ponytail to represent his culture. As part of the district’s settlement with the ACLU, the students punished under the policy will “have their records expunged.”

Of the seven students involved in the lawsuit, six identified as boys and one identified as non-binary. The school reportedly refused to recognize the non-binary student’s gender and made them follow the male dress code.

The students had been subjected to long in-school suspensions, “disciplinary alternative education program,” and other punishments, for failing to make sure that their hair didn’t fall past the bottom of their ears. The dress code also said that all hair must be kept out of the eyes and yet forbade boys from wearing a ponytail or bun.

“Plaintiffs have been subject to severe, ongoing, and escalating harms due to the district-wide policy that prohibits boys, but not girls, from wearing long hair,” the lawsuit stated. “They have been denied classroom instruction, barred from extracurricular activities, and forced to be suspended and separated from their peers for well over a month simply because these students do not conform to Magnolia ISD’s stereotypical notions of gender.”