Let Damian Garcia Graduate As A Male

Damian Garcia was born Brandi Garcia, but he identifies as male; last year he legally changed his name to Damian. All his friends call him Damian; his teachers, too. He is, to everyone who knows him, a young man just about to graduate from Saint Pius High School, a Catholic school.

At Saint Pius, graduating girls wear white gowns while the boys wear black gowns, and now the school says that Damian will be forced to wear white because Saint Pius insists that Damian Garcia is a girl.

“I just want to walk in my black robe, nice and proud and have that memory to look back on with my family and friends. I would rather not walk than to embarrass myself by wearing a female robe.”—Damian Garcia

I understand that people have trouble understanding gender identity, but seriously, even if they choose to believe that Damian Garcia is a female, who does it harm to let him wear a black gown? As I said, everyone in his life, family, friends, teachers, classmates, school officials, call him Damian.

“I look at him and I call him my son. That's how he wishes to be acknowledged is as a male.”—Luis Garcia

The Saint Pius Superintendent says the school goes by the gender listed on the birth certificate if there’s any question on what gender-color the student should wear at graduation, and, of course, Damian’s birth certificate says ‘female’. But again, this makes me wonder, who gets hurt by allowing Damian to wear a black gown? Where is the harm in that? If Damian Garcia chooses to fully transition to male, wouldn't it be nice if his high school graduation pictures reflected his true gender?

“All you want in life is to see your kids happy and healthy. You never want to see them suffer or being ridiculed or be made fun of.”—Luis Garcia

The Garcia family knows there is little chance that the school will change its policy before graduation, but hope their stance, and that of Damian, might make St Pius change their minds about future graduates. Damian says he’s prepared to skip graduation, though he is amazed by the support given to him.

Among those to step forward in support of Damian, is openly gay actor, and star of Modern Family, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, himself a graduate of St. Pius. In addition, a local mother has launched a petition at MoveOn defending Damian and asking that the school let him, him, wear the black graduation robes.

Like I said,when everyone at the school, at graduation, in his class, in his family, knows that Damian Garcia is male, what difference does it make to force him to wear a female robe?

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MoveOn Petition