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CHARLES CITY COUNTY, Va. — A 17-year-old openly gay high school student was issued a three-day suspension last week for refusing to remove a pair of high heels he was wearing.
WWBT-TVAsante Cotman
Asante Cotman, a junior at Charles City High School in Charles City County, Va., said he was ordered to take off the shoes because they were “disrupting the school,” reported WWBT-TV.
Beige stilettos ignited animosity between the high school junior and his principal. Asante Cotman says he’s the only openly gay male student at Charles City High. The spike heels were the crescendo, the boiling point for both.
[...]
Asante refused to take off the heels and the principal called him out of every class.
“She said I was being disrespectful because she told me to take them off and I didn’t take them off. And she called me again because I didn’t take them off. I don’t understand disrupting the class, because nobody was talking about it. Everybody was doing their work. People have seen me wear heels before. People see me with a pocketbook every day,” Asante said.
Principal Stephannie Crutchfield, who suspended Cotman, declined to comment, but WWBT-TV reported that district Superintendent Janet Crawley called the decision a safety hazard — since Cotman’s heels were 6 inches tall — and not discrimination.
“We do have rules about shoes you wear that’s going to cause you to injure yourself,” said Crawley.
Cotman said he feels his sexual orientation is the real reason behind the suspension. “They suspended me for being gay,” he said.
Filed under: Virginia
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Its going to be a good while before this country,especially high schoolers,evolve this far…but we’ve all come a hell of a long way.
you go kid!!! show them what you got!!! shake what your momma gave you
Give me ONE good reason why he needs to take them off? People are allowed to wear whatever they want to wear! Argghh
suspended for wearing high heels.. that’s stupid
I’m really starting to hate living in virginia.
The high school my daughter went to had openly gay students who simply had to follow the dress code – which did NOT include boys wearing heels. What’s the issue here?
>personally doesn’t think guys or girls need to wear high-heels at school
What, were some female teachers mad cause he could work em better? LOL
As long he doesn’t show a panty-line, leave him the F alone.
well I agree with school policy on wardrobe to wear that is accepted,school clothes do carry a guide line on what is acceptable. after all our children are there to learn , NOT to attend a social gathering party or formal function which I am sure wasnt going on like a school damce or so….
This is stupid! We have freedom of expression right? WHY CANT HE EXPRESS HIMSELF?!?!?
Rules are rules. He can’t go against the dress code and say his sexual orientation is why he was in trouble. If he provides examples of women getting away with the same rule breaking, then he has a point.
Why was he wearing them?
sure in the 80s all wore high heels
dance*
Yeah, I’m with you, Sandra and David. I don’t think high heels would be appropriate for ANY high schooler, and if the dress code is clear, then his suspension wasn’t an anti-gay thing, it was a “you didn’t follow the rules” thing.
Good god… that is so stupid. I commend that kid for rockin heals at school.
Omg why can they juss let thee gays b them selfs ? That’s lik Telln a geek too not b smart ugh it juss makes me mad
Fuck that.
thats just it did the rule book say that a openly gay guy cant wear heals?they sure dont have a propblem with what girls wear
if u dont see the issue. someone please explain it to her. i dont have the fucken time to explain the obvious.
This goes way past a “stupid” kid wearing heels…its about equal rights you idiot! Quit trolling
I agree with S. Gordon. I’m gay and will never understand the reason for broadcasting it to the world. You can be proud of who you are without being a specticle.
Only in the South..
@Bonju good point. Read Empire of Illusions, by Chris Hedges. He talks about this……how we turn gossip and spectacle, into important things. It is a coping mechanism.
I could understand if it was a fashion don’t. But he was wearing a tan stiletto, That shoe is a classic and goes with anything!
Sandra Gordon the issue is equality, obviously. If girls can wear high heels, there is no good reason why boys can’t.
This is a load of bull! They wouldn’t suspend a straight girl for wearing them! Let him do what he likes!
That’s stupid.. They aren’t just shoes, what are they going to suspend me for wearing hats now cuz I’m a girl? Or boxers? That’s fumb
Dumb
If the school has no dress code against girls wearing high heels then he should be allowed to also, I mean if a girl came in wearing a pair of means basketball shoes would they suspend her for not taking them off? I think not, so why not let him wear the high heels if he wants.
White before Memorial day?
Agreed^^^
that is so ridiculous really some ppl need to lighten up and worry about other things who cares if he wants to wear heels its no big deal really ppl really put way to much emphasis on what gender they are and by ppl I mean the non lgbtq community they want everyone to fit inside a perfect box why who knows?
Even if you don’t look at this as a sexual orientation issue, it’s still a sexism issue. If the dress code policy doesn’t prohibit wearing high heels, he was not in the wrong. If he were straight and the school said he couldn’t wear heels, what’s their basis? Gender? That’s still discrimination and not okay.
oh hey home state, all you do is win. ugh.
Um…he had to wear high heels why? Ok I understand the freedom of expression but there is a time and a place. I think the school was right here, you know I really hate to say this but I am a man a gay man and I for one do not want to prance around in womens cloths. But that is me, let him do it just at home.
No one should be allowed to wear high heels to school..period! Are they drag queen shoes or what?
yes u can be proud and not make a specticle, i am in that bracket but some of us have to shout it……we r all who we wanna be, just let the boy wear his heals
tough call here, 6 in. heels? Not appropriate! it’s highschool
That’s the stupidest thing I’ve evwr heard
The rule is universal, not related to gender. His heels were 6 inches long…that’s just plain dangerous.
SAD
This story and issue may not make or break the equality movement, but it does matter…even when we eventually do get the exact same rights as every other American, there are still issues of social acceptance and perception. No one should denegrate this story as unimportant.
GOOD! You want to be equal, fine, you got suspension, just like ANYONE ELSE who would wear those to school. You are equal, con-fuckin-gratulations.
Stiletto fetish? No, just shoes on a schoolday. Not necessarily related to fetishism at all. Bonju, it might behoove you to take your inflammatory, exaggerated language elsewhere. This isn’t a good place for hatefulness.
Honestly. If an openly straight female can wear them, anyone else should be able to also.
It’s dangerous if he can’t walk in them …. Either way they are his damn feet. Let the boy wear his heels . A suspension , really ?
Have other kids ever been required to remove “dangerous shoes”? Probably not. It’s too dangerous for this boy to wear heels but if he put on a plastic helmet and smashed into other people on the football field it would be ok.
god bless him, you go! Hope he doesnt change.
anyways. even if a dude was expelled for having walk around the campus wih a dildo in his mouth you would still say its homophobia and get all freaked out…. seriously… im gay and for equality. but a school isnt a freak show.
Wowwww
Tch. People should be free to express themselves and be accepted for who they are.
give him a freakin medal for being able to walk in those things
Rick,when I was in high school-admittedly a long time ago-the girls routinely wore platforms,platform heels and heels,why shouldn’t they? It was the style. They wore make up,too,and had stylish hair styles,too, and the boys dressed decently and in style,too…not every kid in my school, but a hell of a lot.No harm came of it, big deal. As for this kid wearing heels, again, big deal, if the girls can, let him. Who are we-any of us-to dictate what a high schooler wears to school, as long as it is not obscene or defamatory?
Sounds like some of his peers, teachers and administrator’s were jealous that he wore them better ;-)
Not trying to sound mean, but 1. He’s a guy. He shouldn’t be wearing them in the first place, unless he was trying to go drag and even then, its SCHOOL. Its unnecessary.
2. He made a spectacle of himself. I’m not homophobic, hell, I’m bi, but he’s already open. This makes him a target for bullies, on top of that he’s wearing heels. Bullseye much? Be proud. Not a spectacle
First of all..i am a lesbian woman…a Black lesbian woman at that. So i am not trying to come off as ignorant or discriminitory. But WHY DID HE FEEL THE NEED TO WEAR HEELS?…you are gay..okay we get it…but there are other children at the school as well..and a boy wearing heels will distract the other children. Geez…this country gives us an inch and we try to take a MILE!..BOTTOM LINE IS..WE DO NOT LIVE IN A GAY WORLD…now i do expect the basic equality in society..but thats it!!!
Sorry while I very strongly support his right to wear things he feels comfortable in there is a time and place for 6″ stiletto heels, I don’t think high school halls and stairwells are it.
Dave, who said anything about prancing? I imagine he was simply walking. He had to wear high heels why? Same reason you have to wear whatever shoes you like the best.
The only question is whether or not girls are allowed to wear heels at this school. If they are, then it’s discrimination. If they are not, then he was flouting a dress code restriction. If he’s interested in the gender bending attire, maybe he can try a nice dress, or pretty earrings.
i am all for equal rights but his suspesion has nothing to do with sexuality but about him not fallowing the rules it says clearly no distractive clothing cross dressing in heels is distracting to his classmates because face it know matter what race or sexual orientation you are you are gonna stare hes in trouble for breaking the rules in real life he cant cry officer you cant give me a speeding ticket cause im gay otherwise i would go to walmart steal a tv and say officer you cant arrest me im gay
Safety violation my ass…. :P
Fuck you guys. I’m gay & I love wearing heels!
Although I think u should be who you are…I don’t think anyone regardless of gender should b wearing high heels to school. I do wonder if this student would expect extra protection from the other not so progressive(neanderthol) thinking students. I’m sure the bigoted didn’t like his form of expression. And I fear for his safety.
@kaylah who are we to say what being a spectacle is ? Just because it’s crossing the line to some , like yourself, doesn’t mean it is to others . If that’s what he feels like going in his explorations let him do it . We all learn in different ways , he is only 17 . How can you label him a spectacle soooo fast when he has yet to be a fully matured adult ? He may or may not end up flamboyant . Let people live .
A lot of schools have a policy against open toed shoes and high heels. You would be amazed at how many injuries occur when students wear either one. If it was against school policy it has to be equally enforced. If it wasn’t, then it is descrimination.
This is like going to school naked and saying I’m a nudist. If its against the rules, its against the rules. They were a safety hazard. Im all for equality, but it PISSES me off when people say “its because I’m gay” or “its because I’m black”. A rule is a rule.
That’s just wrong for supsending someone for exercising his rights.
I kind of side with the school on this one. In most schools, heels past a certain height aren’t allowed. I’m sure if any other student WAS wearing heels that high (male, female, gay, straight, bi, trans, etc.), they’d have been asked to take them off too.
But more power to him.
I say wear heels! but 6 inches is really high! girls were not allowed to ware heels over 3 in at my high school. if he wants to prove she was discriminating against him cause hes openly gay he should wear a dress and see how she reacts. if he wants a case he needs to create an obvious one. girls can wear dresses and so should boys without question. but that’s not reality, which is sad. just stay with in dress code when you decide to push the boundaries. and I’m pretty sure there are a million other distractions like kids who bring alcohol in gatorade bottles or punkers with all their crazy and very different clothing choices and different colored hair. for gods sake pregnant girls are distracting! are we going to tell pregnant girls not to come to school cause they are distracting the other students?
And to say guys shouldn’t wear heels unless they are doing drag ….. Very ignorant . Human sexuality is a very complicated subject matter … And there are many many reasons other then dressing drag a man would wear a heel .
I’m all about personal expression … HOWEVER … this is obviously being done as a stunt to gain attention. If you do something you KNOW is going to get a reaction, don’t sob and whine when you get it. Being gay doesn’t give you a free pass to bash people in the head with your sexuality and DEMAND special treatment for it. Live and let live … and don’t be a bitch.
@andrea I was using prancing figuratively not literally. I was just stating that in school he needs to follow the rules and do as he is told. There is a line unfortunately. And he crossed it specially with the “im gay” argument. I was severely bullied in school for being gay and frankly he was going to put himself in a situation. And then what would have happened? The school did right in this. But I do agree no one should wear heels to school. It’s dangerous and really quite distracting when a student leaves the class to go to the rr or somewhere and comes back in clicking those heels.
The straight/cisgendered privilege in this post is so depressing.
i d k why anyone would wear heels all day long at school. It’s about as dumb as wearing them in the airport!
School’s Need To Drop The Bullshit Rule’s About What Student’s Wear…, If They Suspended Him For Wearin’ High Heels…That’s Way Overboard With The Rule’s…Then They Would Have To Suspend Every Goth Student, Every Punker Student, And More….This Is A Free Country…High School Student’s In My Day Would Always Wear What Made Them Feel Comfortable In Their Own Skin…..All This Right Wing Conservative Bullshit In School’s Is Just So Wrong…I Wish I Had Come Outta The Closet When I Was In School…And I Wore All My Feminine Western Wear…But That’s Just Me…Yeah I Might Of Gotten Jumped By People…But Even Still…I Wouldn’t Have Gotten Suspended For Wearin’ Clothes That Made Me Comfortable In My Own Skin….I Would’ve Still Gotten Suspended For Beatin’ The Crap Outta All The Bullies….!!!.
@nur ramazan “I’m gay and for equality . But a school isn’t a freak show “. Sounds like your the freak show . That’s just hateful and rude , and bit a comment someone truly for “equality” would make . Maybe you should focus on working out your personality instead of those abs :D!!!
Didn’t mean “bit” meant “not”
i wish people would stop thinking that gay means men who want to be or look like women,i like men i dont want to be or look like a women, i dont want tits or a vagina. to me this kid is not gay he is a gender confused man or pre opp, or whatever.drag queens to me are entertainment jobs that straight people do as well so give this kid a title besides gay, it makes it seem like we all have serious issues going on and thats whats going on with this kid..period. it shit like this that makes straight people say witch ones the wife. its fucked up
That’s stupid, but truth is most school’s dont allow certain shoes to be worn, it’s a safety issue.
The world would be awesome if people wouldn’t decide to just randomly use their sexuality to gain attention. It makes the rest of us look like idiots. You want to wear those shoes at home because you like them? Go for it! You want to wear them out in the streets while running errands? Have at it. But to wear them into school, knowing full well that it’s against a dress code policy is just inciting a reaction so you can scream “Oh! Woe is me! I’m gay and picked on!” … Things like this make my blood BOIL because there are probably 5 other kids in the same school who ARE gay but are terrified to come out because of the image THIS one kid puts out there. No one wants to be associated with an attention whore …
More power to ya kid!
actually most “cross-dressers” are married straight men with kids. i swear so many people either need to take human sexuality or retake it. lets just fix it the easy way by educating our youth and making human sexuality a mandatory class in HIGH SCHOOL and not just in college.
What a stupid reason to suspend hi or anyone. Woo they taught us all a lesson! They should focus on bettering their education!!!
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ACTUALLY, gang, LOTS of schools permit girls to wear high heels, and if they allow the girls, they MUST allow the boys. otherwise, don’t allow ANYONE to wear them. which may not be a bad idea as well.
If the school’s dress policy prohibits heels beyond a certain height and he was in violation of that, the school in this case was in the right. That being said if they have no such policy then it appears to be a case of discrimination.
lets not worry about who is wearing what to school, let us rather concentrate on keeping guns out of the school….3 teens died last week in Ohio due to one kid opening fire in the cafeteria….I am a gay woman, what kids want to wear is the least of our nations worries….get a clue and focus on the REAL TROUBLES WE FACE!!!
If the problem was his shoes were to high then that’s what should have been stated to begin with. The principal shouldn’t have been saying he was disrupting the class. If the boy wants to wear heels who cares, girls do it everyday. He should be able to dress in anyway he wants as long as it is within dress code
We have got to stop the hating
The school itself gay bulling.
Stiletto heels are not appropriate wear for teens gay or str8 for school.
I mean really…we are gay and lesbian…trans or bi. Why is it that certain people in our community expect everyone to just go along with whatever we do?…so a gay and lesbian couple feel the need to go into a family steakhouse and french kiss all damn night..then when the manager puts their asses out…its a problem!…why do the shit anyway?…FOR ATTENTION. the only rights i need is for me and my wife to be protected in a marriage…thats it!!!…some of us take it overboard. Why the hell did he feel the need to wear heels to school?…shit pisses me off!!
Disgusting.
i don’t think wearing heels hurts anyone so i think the suspension is kinda unfair, if a girl was wearig it nothing would have been said. society seems more harsh on males than females when it comes to dress code, if a girl wore mens dress shoes i highly think she would not have been suspended, to me this seems like prejudice idk, just think suspension was a little bit too far
So many people going to hell, so little time. -_-
that’s just crazy to suspend someone for that, I’m sure had it been a “female” no one would have batted an eye but because he’s gay they find new & frightening ways to punish & humiliate him! Shame on you Charles City Co!!!
Wtf
this is just not right …
why cant people leave other people alone. i mean big deal let him wear high heels if thats what makes him happy. there are more important things to worry about then a kid expressing himself. just be who you are and fuck the haters
there is worse things goin on in the world…let ppl be!
I don’t see why anyone would want to where high heels ever but that is besides the point!!!
Meanwhile, there are kids selling drugs, damaging property, beating up people, lying, sassing teachers…and this kid gets suspended for wearing high heels. They should be happy he came to school, period!
Give me a break… He had shoes on, who cares what kind of shoes?
What was the school policy? There was a “no heels” policy where I went to school.
How embarrassing for the Principal. This Stupid Whore has NO class. She’s just pissed off because people mistake her fat ass for a man!
Ahaha, the Principals just jealous that he looked more fabulous than her ;)
leave the boy alone… he’s just being his fabulous ol’ self!!
Just like little girls and makeup, little boys need to be taught what is in good taste and appropriate . Six inch heels during the day just isn’t done. When I see someone in the office wearing them it just screams slut. (And that’s not a Rush reference )
It may be different in the US but in the UK no child would be allowed to wear heels for safety reasons. There may be more to this story but if this lad was the only one wearing heels in the school and there was a policy stating no heels then I think the Headteacher was fair enough.
I have always thought schools should be uniform. I get the whole expression thing, but kids are there to learn. Kids are more worried about their outfits instead of their grades.
Do the girls wear heels? It is wrong for him.