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SANDY — One Utah mother says the dress code for Halloween costumes at her daughter's middle school sends a bad message.
Brooke McAllister is concerned because she feels the school's policy banning cross-dressing costumes discriminates against some Utah families. And it all started with an email she received from the school.
"When I read the Halloween guidelines, it said, ‘No masks, no weapons, no cross dressing,' " McAllister said.
McAllister said her 13-year-old daughter dressed up as a police officer Wednesday for Elk Ridge Middle School's Halloween festivities, but she modified the costume to be as feminine as possible because of the no cross dressing policy. McAllister feels the policy discriminates against gay families.
"Even though it's not labeled in one group together, that puts it in a group as harmful," McAllister said. "You have cross dressing in there with weapons and wearing masks and things that could be harmful to other people's children. And now you have cross dressing in there and there's no clear guidelines to what that explicitly means."
District spokeswoman Sandy Riesgraf said the cross dressing policy is based more on sexually suggestive costumes.
I can understand that, but that's not what it said, and that's not what it brings across.
–Brooke McAllister
"If you come dressed as a male or female or vice versa in a costume that is sexually suggestive, I think that's where we have the problem," Riesgraf said. "That's where the school has the problem."
Riesgraf said the policies help with the learning environment.
"I can understand that, but that's not what it said, and that's not what it brings across," McAllister said. "So, if that's what they want it to be it needs to have a clear definition and the children need to be well informed."
Civil rights attorneys say students have First Amendments rights to express themselves, "including the wearing items of clothing to make a statement or communicate a political position," said attorney Stewart Gollan.
"It is difficult to figure out how a male student's wearing a dress as part of a Halloween costume would be disruptive of the school's educational mission when that same student's dressing up as a ghoul or goblin would not."
The district officials also said each school is responsible for its own policy on cross dressing during other times of the school year, and that each case is handled individually.
