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No lipstick allowed for Garfield eighth-grader
Boy says he was just expressing himself, but school officials say it was a distraction
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Garfield Middle School eighth-grader Matt Allsup displays his black makeup and fingernail polish Tuesday, Sept. 23, at his home in Hamilton. On Monday, school officials made him wash off the makeup. Allsup and his family are questioning district policies on the use of makeup by male students.HAMILTON — A Garfield Middle School student and his family are challenging the Hamilton City School District over his right to wear black eyeliner and lipstick to school.
Matt Allsup, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at the school, was told Monday, Sept. 22, to wash the makeup off his face. An administrator told Allsup it was "distracting" and therefore against the district's dress code.
Allsup said the makeup "expresses who I am. I am not like other people. I like rock 'n' roll and this expresses that. I am discriminated against."
Students in the Hamilton school district wear character badges that encourage acceptance and valuing the uniqueness of others, Allsup said.
"Why make us wear the character cards if they are not going to let us be unique?" he asked.
"It's gender stereotyping and sexual discrimination," said his mother, Mindy Ball. "If he has to take off his lipstick, then so do the little girls in the school."
Ball suggested to school officials that if the issue was the lipstick's color, she would buy her son pink.
Officials told her he couldn't "wear it because it's distracting because he's a male," she said. "He's a good kid and he is popular. The reason he wears eyeliner is because he is self-conscious and he thinks it makes his eyes look bigger."
No discipline was involved in the incident, said Joni Copas, district spokeswoman. "He washed it off and that was the end of it. The administrator didn't think it was conducive to the education process and the district believes it was handled appropriately. If makeup is too harsh — whether it's a girl or a boy — the student should be asked to wipe it off."
Ball said her next stop is "to contact a lawyer."
"I want him to know that no matter who he is or what he chooses to do, I will always stand behind him."
