Hello. I am writing to you today about an issue my boyfriend is having with his senior class. He attends Red Lion Area Senior High School in York, Pennsylvania and has made ample amounts of progress with his transgender process. This year most of his fellow classmates as well as some teachers call him Issak and acknowledge his transition. It has made him extremely happy to be surrounded by such an amazing support system. He had expressed to me earlier on in the year that he wanted to run for prom king so by the time prom season rolled around, I was not surprised when he began compiling a campaign and creating flyers. The amount of positive feedback he got back from his fellow classmates was overwhelming. Many people agreed to vote for him and it was almost a guarantee that he would end up winning. Issak is a very charismatic person and has been in charge of his schools' GSA as well as Day of Silence for two years now. He is very popular at his school and many people believed him to be a shoo in for the prom king position. On the day meant for voting, he went to school and at lunch time he made his way to the ballot to vote for himself. However when he got there, he found that his name had been switched to his birth name and put into the girls' category. Embarrassed and extremely distraught, he immediately went to the principal's office but could not meet with him. The reasoning behind the switch of the ballot was the doing of their new principal Mr. Mark Shue. His reasoning for not allowing Issak to run for prom king? He felt uncomfortable with it. Issak's mother, as well as many teachers and outside forces have taken ahold of this injustice and we plan to fight this decision with everything in our power. We are trying to bring attention to this story so that people out there in Issaks’ position know they are not alone, so that my boyfriend has the chance to stand up on stage wearing the crown he deserves, the prom king sash firmly across his shoulder. We must let Mr. Shue know that we will not stand for any discriminatory acts. Every one deserves to be treated with equality and respect that a human being deserves.

Thank you. Taylor T.