At first, the way the radio station was talking about it made it seem like the boy had gotten in trouble because he was wearing the heels in order to make fun of cross dressing or transgender individuals. When I got home I looked it up and found out that was not the case. The male student simply liked wearing heels and felt most comfortable in them. As one of his friends, Hayley Stepp, stated in a news interview, “He likes the way they make him feel. They make him feel more confident, and he just likes to wear them.” It didn’t make mention of whether or not the boy had ever worn heels or other feminine clothing before this instance. I also don’t believe that the boy was indeed a distraction to the class at all, and feel that it was more likely the teacher was uncomfortable with the situation and wanted to do something to stop it. It also seemed that the students they interviewed for the most part were not bothered by it at all. Many of them backed him up, and it was said one boy even was going to wear a dress to school the next week to stand up for him.
I feel bad for the boy, because if in fact he was just wearing the heels because he liked them, and was reprimanded for being himself, I think it was completely unnecessary for the principal to do that. A more appropriate thing to do in this situation would have been for the principal or teacher to talk with the child and inform him of the possible dangers of bullying and ridicule from other students if he chose to dress this way, but also that they would help to make sure he was in a safe environment so that nothing would happen to him. That way he would be aware that there may be discrimination from other students, but he still would have the option to do what he wanted to do without being told what he should do. There was no reason for him to be taken out of school when he did nothing wrong in the situation.
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