School Won't Read Transgender Student's Name at Graduation

Administrators at a Pennsylvania high school have officially refused to read the name of transgender senior Issak Wolfe when he walks across the stage to accept his diploma.

Wolfe had asked the Red Lion Area School District to read his assumed name, not his female birth name, at Friday night's ceremony. While he will be allowed to wear the cap and gown designated for male students, his female given name will be read, according to the Associated Press. The school board's solicitor Ben Pratt said Wolfe's diploma is a legal document, so it must bear his legal name. Molly Tack-Hooper, an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union representing 18-year-old Wolfe, said he is still in the process of changing his name.

"I am really disappointed that the school district doesn't want to do anything to protect transgender students," Wolfe said last month in a statement by the ACLU. "I want to make sure that future transgender students are not humiliated and disrespected the way I was."