Trans teen says Georgia school took him off prom king ballot

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A transgender student says his Georgia high school removed him from this year’s prom king ballot.

The Gainesville Times quotes Johnson High School senior Dex Frier as saying he was nominated by the student body as one of six candidates for prom king, but was later informed by school officials that he could only be on the prom queen ballot.

Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield says the district has never removed students from prom and he doesn’t want to put the district “in the middle of a national social, societal and legal issue.”

A petition calling for Frier’s return to the ballot has amassed more than 10,700 signatures in less than a week. Two competing petitions affirming Frier’s exclusion have fewer than 100 signatures.

Prom is March 23.

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Information from: The Times, http://www.gainesvilletimes.com