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As she settled into early-morning band practice in the music room at York House, fellow students expressed their excitement, and their support. The issue had been quietly discussed among students for some time — two years ago a student named Jaqueline Tam at St. John’s led an effort to include trousers in that school’s dress code, and her success was something of a legend among the girls who call themselves “Yorkies.”

Kimberly Harvey, senior school director, approached Gilbert Stewart at lunch. “I said you’re out of uniform. I’m going to ask that you return to the kilt, but I hear you, I see you, and we are going to have a conversation,” said Harvey.

Photo by NICK PROCAYLO / PNG

After school, buoyed by the encouragement she’d received from classmates, Gilbert Stewart made a decision. She wasn’t going to back down.

“Visibility leads to acceptance,” she said. “I wanted it known that this was a huge thing, that it was wanted, that it was already accepted.”

That night she spent hours composing a formal proposal that addressed issues of comfort, cold weather, personal empowerment and the protection of gender expression under B.C. law. She also reached out to classmates on Facebook, asking if anyone wanted to join her in wearing pants.

The next morning, over a dozen girls streamed into the senior school in pants.

That’s when Maggie Coval, York House’s head girl and a Grade 12 student, along with the vice-head girl, Kira Tosefsky, 17, sprang into action.

“At 8:30 a.m., I was in front of Mrs. Harvey’s office saying have you seen the pants? What are we going to do about this?” said Coval.