- Andy Moreno, left, and her sister Daisy Moreno
Trangender student Andy Moreno wasn’t among the three finalists for homecoming queen at North Dallas High School announced Monday, according to her sister, Daisy Moreno.
Daisy Moreno told Instant Tea that according to poll watchers and friends on the counting committee, Andy received more votes than at least one of the three finalists. However, based on the principal’s previous decision, school officials didn’t allow votes for Andy to count.
Another transgender youth who also identifies as female was nominated for homecoming king and won, Daisy Moreno said. The school allowed the other youth to run for king because she was born male. Students will choose the homecoming king and queen from among the finalists on Friday, Oct. 15.
Queer LiberAction is reportedly planning a protest of Andy’s exclusion from the ballot.
The Canadian Broadcasting Company saw the story about Andy’s homecoming bid on Dallas Voice’s website and interviewed her Monday afternoon. The report is scheduled to run on NPR in the United States.
It’s unclear whether Andy would have a winning case if she brought legal action against the school or the district, according to Ken Upton, a senior staff attorney at Lambda Legal in Dallas.
Upton said recent federal court rulings have supported students’ right to dress consistently with their gender identity in other contexts, but he couldn’t recall one that dealt specifically with homecoming. In Indiana, for example, a school district recently changed its policies and settled a case brought by a trans student who wasn’t allowed to wear female attire to the prom.
“In this type of a situation, there would probably be some federal arguments you could make,” Upton said. “It would depend a lot on the circumstances of the homecoming event, and whether it was truly just extracurricular or whether it was related to the curriculum of the school. But as a general rule, the federal law has been in some cases protective of students who kind of buck the gender norms or bend the molds and administrators don’t like it.
“I think it’s something we’re seeing more and more of, because students are increasingly becoming comfortable in their own skin in situations where five or 10 years ago, they would have been scared to death to be themselves,” he said.
Upton added that regardless of the legal implications, he doesn’t understand the school’s motivation.
“What’s the harm?” Upton said. “Especially in the context of proms or homecoming, I always wonder, what really is the objection? And that’s the question that I’ve never gotten a satisfactory answer to. You [the school district] might win a lawsuit, but why would you care, and why would you expend so much energy on something like this? You’ve got bigger problems.”
Online editor John Wright contributed to this article.
This story has been over-sensationalized from the beginning. Notice how the only tv station to cover it was FOX News. I’ve seen completely un-factual information printed on this and the previous articles relating to Andy.
If you are not in a public school and are a trained Principal you don’t know where she is talking from, obviously because Andy has spread dishonest information. …But go ahead and make your judgements only knowing some of the facts!!!!!
Yes, be yourself. But allow others to go to school to learn and be free from distractions like this. ….And this is why you might be too quick to judge: you’re not in high school nor do you chose to go to school for the simple task of learning.
Here is some real logic:
“This story has been over-sensationalized from the beginning. Notice how the only tv station to cover it was FOX News” – hardly an example of an “over-sensationalized” story if only one TV station picked it up. It’s more likely a case where issues involving trans people that can’t be sexualized don’t get picked up.
“I’ve seen completely un-factual information printed on this and the previous articles relating to Andy.” – Provide examples, otherwise your points are meaningless.
“If you are not in a public school and are a trained Principal you don’t know where she is talking from, ” – MOST people reading this story are, or have been, in High School. One does not need to have the super secret “Principal training” to know how bureaucracies work and how trans women are largely not served well by them. The rest of the sentence.. proof of the lies or the mystery facts???
“Yes, be yourself. But allow others to go to school to learn and be free from distractions like this. ” – You mean to say “Do what you want as long as It doesn’t bother my refined sensibilities” – right? Were you the poor girl who should have lost to Andy? Maybe her mother?
“.And this is why you might be too quick to judge: you’re not in high school nor do you chose to go to school for the simple task of learning.” – This would be a false association – you see the two things (reaching a conclusion and going to school) are not dependent on one another – one does not lead to the other. Not to mention the sentence was poorly worded and barely makes sense.
Now… the above is Logical… what you have is a poorly worded attempt to paint a trans girl as a liar with nothing more to offer than “cuz I said so” to back it up.
I keep hearing the argument that school is for learning, so let’s keep all forms of gender nonconformity out of school so the kids can learn (i.e., STFU.)
QUESTION: What do kids learn from ‘Homecoming’? What life-lesson do they learn that it’s so important for the adults to interfere when the kids are, in the opinion of the adults in charge, in danger of not getting it right? What’s the teachable moment in Homecoming?
If school is all about getting an education, why is Homecoming such a big deal? In this day and age of economic collapse and cost-cutting and paring back to just the basics, why even do homecoming?
Isn’t there some No-Child-Left-Behind test they can better spend their time and our tax dollars studying for?
“allow others to go to school to learn and be free from distractions like this”
Kids need to learn about transgender people. Apparently, principals do as well. It’s wrong for the principal to repeatedly call Andy a “transvestite” and a “gay male.” It’s wrong for you to insist that transgender people in school be invisible, and not allowed to participate in school activities as their true gender, nor protest when denied those opportunities.
then again, the actions of this one individual has attracted plenty of attention. does this really need the ACLU/etc getting involved? What about the biologically born females that had their homecoming overshadowed by this “controversy?” Is this fair to them? I don’t think so… and I am very liberal and tolerant of LGBT… but come on. this is not discrimination… Andy is making it out to be, naturally..
Well Janey, you can keep your tolerance b/c it’s not doing us a damn bit of good. We need people to be understanding and supportive. I just don’t get what’s so difficult about treating people equally. Transgender issues can be made confusing or simple. She identifies as a girl. Girls run for homecoming queen. She wants to be homecoming queen. Is that slow enough for you?
“then again, the actions of this one individual has attracted plenty of attention.” – You are correct, had the school administration not made such an issue out of this there would have been no controversy.
“does this really need the ACLU/etc getting involved? ” – Obviously it does, particularly in cases of institutional discrimination.
“What about the biologically born females that had their homecoming overshadowed by this “controversy?” ‘ – Take it up with the school administration, they are the ones who made a “controversy” out of this, not Andy. I’m also sure the cis girls (I’m positive Andy is both Biological and has been born) should be able to compete on a fair playing field.
… and I am very liberal and tolerant of LGBT… but come on. this is not discrimination… Andy is making it out to be, naturally..” – Don’t care how “liberal” you think you are and “tolerance” only makes jerks feel good about themselves. Also, how is this NOT discrimination?
So, apply blame where it belongs. Stop congratulating yourself on your “liberal tolerance”. provide some proof that Andy is making things up. These are some action items for you, I’m sure you can do at least one.
If the students don’t have a problem, why is there a problem?
Oh, right. Hateful xtian bigots.
Protest – Thursday, 3:30 pm, North Dallas High School – GO TEAM ANDY!
Whatever, ya’ll. Sure, I’d feel duped if the person that got my homecoming king vote had lied to me. And I know myself, for one, I tend to believe teenagers over adults, especially when the absurdity runs high. BTW, where is that principals side to the story, I mean, there is another side here that we aren’t seeing. Andy has presented the other side’s story, however, Andy has spoken with misleading, untruthful information. Then again, who needs facts.
Can we just go back to the 50’s before the insanity started? I was born in the 70’s but loved America for what it was before the wacky liberals took over FORCING us to accept anything and everything. WE have a RIGHT to choose what to like and what not to like. I don’t like the gay lifestyle and I don’t like it being forced on me either. So much for a free society when we can’t choose what to like or dislike without being called bigots or charged with a hate crime. Hate is a HUMAN RIGHT.
Protest – Thursday, 3:30 pm, North Dallas High School – GO TEAM ANDY! http://Www.queerliberaction.com
Liz – the second someone is charged with a hate crime for disliking something, you may have some sort of point in your rambling.
I think just like some of the comments on here i would have to agree with. I think that Andy should be allowed to win and be one of the runner ups. It is the schools current principal that should be suspended or fired for making it a big deal by not allowing the votes to count, How ignorant can you be. Obvioulsy the principal there doesnt like any LGBT students or people, someone like that shouldnt even be allowed to run a school. I mean what kinda role model are you and how is a student supposed to come up to you and talk about thier problems if you are so absent-minded. The DISD should also be ashamed for the bullying rules that they are trying to pass without protecting any LGBT students and also for having the principal at NDHS be in a leadership role in one of their schools but then again HELL the DISD is just as bad.
We the seniors at North Dallas High School voted last night at our homecoming dance. We voted two straight classmates as Homecoming King and Queen. We did not vote for Ignacio another queer boy who was running for a king. We want to show that we have more sense that Andy who was just trying to get attention. He is not popular as he think he is in our senior class. He told so many lies. By not voting any one of them, the senior class made a statement. Stop the lies Andy boy!
Those who had a pretend rally at my school were not even students attending NDHS. They were there to take pictures of students when the bell rang after school. The students were around those people laughing because of the cameras and the big lady with the microphone was shouting revote and we haven’t even voted yet and the old gay people were like putting on clothes to look like students. It was so stupid. We are all sick of Andy’s pretenses and that’s why we have to put a stop on this last night by voting two straight classmates as queen and king who deserved to get the crown. Andy and Ignacio made all gay students at our school look bad just to let you know. If he can’t follow rules set by our principal then he should find another school to attend.
ANDY IS HURTING EVERYONE IN OUR SCHOOL BY EXPECTING US TO ACCEPT AND BELIEVE HIS LIES. Inside our school it is a different story. He should think what he’s doing is a lot damage to his classmates and our school than smiling and make a fool of himself in front of the camera. So please leave our school alone and this crap about transgender stuff. There I said it.