Discrimination is Bigger in Texas: Transgender Teen Cut From Yearbook

Jeydon Loredo is your normal high school senior at La Feria High School. The La Feria Independent School District has decided otherwise, and has even cut Jeydon out of his school’s yearbook.

The decision to do so was because Jeydon wore a tuxedo just like every other boy in the school’s senior class, but the school district says that they will only allow Jeydon in the yearbook if he were to wear a drape or blouse. Jeydon is a transgender teen who identifies himself as male.

Stella Loredo, Jeydon’s mother, says:

We all support him… and for this photo not to be in there, it’s infuriating.

The Loredo family reached out to the Human Rights Campaign for help in the matter. After a meeting with Superintendent Rey Villareal the situation remained unresolved; Villareal told the family and the HRC:

The photo would offend community standards.

Following the meeting, the family reached out to Attorney Alesdair Ittelson with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a non-profit civil rights organization. Ittelson acknowledged that by the school district not publishing the picture, as is, it violates its own anti-discrimination policy. He told KGBT Action 4 News that:

We are going to do what is necessary to make sure that Jeydon’s portrait is in the yearbook, and that he’s in the yearbook wearing a tuxedo like the other boys in his school. We hope that we don’t have to bring a federal lawsuit, but if it becomes necessary we absolutely will take it there.

Jeydon’s reaction is what you would expect from any high school senior:

I just want to be in the yearbook to be remembered years down the road because people are going to forget their classmates, and that’s going to be the only way to remember each other? so that’s all I want.

Edited/Published by: SB

I had a successful career actively working with at-risk youth, people struggling with poverty and unemployment, and disadvantaged and oppressed populations. In 2011, I made the decision to pursue my dreams and become a full-time writer. Connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.