The same week his state outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles, a Black high school student in Texas was suspended because school officials said his locs violated the district’s dress code.
Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, received an in-school suspension after he was told his hair fell below his eyebrows and ear lobes. George, 17, wears his hair in thick twisted dreadlocks, tied on top of his head, said his mother, Darresha George.
George served the suspension last week. His mother said he plans to return to the Houston-area school Monday, wearing his dreadlocks in a ponytail, even if he is required to attend an alternative school as a result.
If there is any appearance standard, it must apply to all students in the exact same way. If girls are allowed to have hair which "falls below the eyebrows or earlobes," but boys are not, that is discrimination based on gender. If girls are allowed to wear "skirts below the knee," but boys are not, that is discrimination based on gender.
I'm in no way suggesting that girls be held to the appearance standards that boys are held to; rather, boys should be held to the appearance standards that girls are held to.