Students at a Texas high school walked out of class Wednesday morning in support of a transgender classmate who says she was denied access to the female locker room.
The transgender rights protest took place at 9:30 a.m. An Instagram post shared by students called for a “silent respectful protest,” asking participants to walk out of class during the third period on Wednesday, wearing attire with the transgender flag colors, face paint “and any other LGBTQ+ representation.”
Students walked out of their classes to show support to a 16-year-old trans girl, who’s attending Temple for her junior year.
Last week, she wrote on Instagram that on Sept. 22 a teacher told her she “couldn’t use the locker room because there were ‘actual girls’ in there” — even though she had been using female restrooms since seventh grade, she wrote.
Her post was widely shared and also “liked” more than 4,000 times. Current and former students of the school wrote comments in solidarity.
According to local television station KCENT-TV, dozens of students participated in the protest, “inside and outside of the school.”
Temple Independent School District spokesperson Christine Parks said that the walkout remained peaceful, but that “additional security and Temple PD were on campus to help ensure the safety of staff and students.”
“Students have the right to peaceful protests,” she said. “However, if such activities result in student behaviors such as skipping class or leaving a classroom without permission, then these Student Code of Conduct violations will result in consequences as outlined in the Code of Conduct,” Parks added.
