A Texas-based teen is battling his high school after being told he won't be allowed to wear a dress to his senior prom.
Tony Zamazal, who says he's been wearing women's clothing as often as he can in recent months, had hoped to make a formal debut in a dress, heels and a wig at Spring High School's end-of-year dance. After asking an assistant principal if he could attend the prom in that attire, he was immediately shot down, KHOU 11 News is reporting.
"He told me it just wasn’t in the dress code. [He said] women wore dresses, and men wore tuxedos,” Zamazal told the news station. He went on to note, "It’s not okay to just tell people, they can’t be the way that they are. It’s not just a choice of the way you look. It’s more of who you are.”
A Spring Independent School District spokeswoman told the channel that Zamazal can fight the decision by taking his request up with the Spring High School principal.
Zamazal's case is merely the latest challenge to high school prom regulations across the country in recent weeks. In Missouri, gay teen Stacy Dawson was initially turned down by Scott County Central High School administrators after he hoped to take his boyfriend as his senior prom date, prompting the school's superintendent to reportedly agree to revise a long-standing policy which appeared to ban same-sex prom dates.
Earlier this month, students and staff at an Indiana-based high school tried to quickly distance themselves from international media frenzy over a local group's plea for a "traditional" alternate prom that would ban gay teens.
The most vocal member of that group, special education teacher Diana Medley sparked the most controversy when she compared LGBT teens to special needs students and said she "honestly didn't" feel gay people had a "purpose" in life.
In 2010, a Mississippi-based lesbian teen was awarded $35,000 after her high school opted to cancel its prom rather than permitting her to attend the dance with her girlfriend.
Eighteen-year-old Constance McMillen told the AP, "I knew it was a good cause, but sometimes it really got to me. I knew it would change things for others in the future and I kept going and I kept pushing."
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