A Mississippi high school is facing backlash after a Facebook post honoring its Class of 2026 called the transmasculine student by his dead name and appeared to have had his face digitally altered to appear more feminine.
of postpublished May 17 by D’Iberville High School in Biloxi, Mississippi, with student Jonas Hall congratulating him on his accomplishment. An attached photo showed Hall wearing a U.S. Army Junior ROTC uniform.
“Pride. Tradition. Excellence. Congratulations to the DHS Salutatorians,” the post reads, using Hall’s late name.
“[Y]”Our success is a reflection of countless efforts and a commitment to achieving our goals,” the school’s post continued, again referencing Hall’s late name, “Warrior Nation celebrates you today and can’t wait to see all the great things that lie in store for your future.” Congratulations on this well-deserved honor!”
The post quickly drew criticism, generating over 13,000 comments and over 100 shares. Many commenters accused the school of transphobia for denying Hall’s name and claimed that officials edited Hall’s senior portrait before posting it online.
“They photoshopped his mustache away to make him look more ‘feminine’,” one commenter wrote.
The backlash also reignited criticism of several students, including Hall, who were allegedly excluded from the school’s yearbook for not adhering to a gender-specific dress code for their senior portraits.
said Tara Shay Montgomery, a Biloxi drag queen and local LGBTQ advocate. defender She has been contacted by several parents who have connections to Hall and other students.
“Several concerned mothers of Jonas’ friends first contacted me about a total of approximately six students being excluded from their yearbooks due to the gender-specific dress code,” Montgomery said. “Then a post about Jonas dropped from DHS and one of the same mothers shared it with me and it made me sick to my stomach with disgust and sadness for him.”
Montgomery shared a selfie posted by Hall that appeared similar to the one used in the Facebook post, showing him in an ROTC uniform adorned with medals, ribbons and honors he earned as a “distinguished cadet” and as a member of the saber team and color guard. Hall’s mustache is clearly visible in the image, but it appeared to be missing in the version posted by the school.
“You can see that his mustache has been edited to look like a shadow and his lips are pink,” Montgomery said. defender.
While some Facebook commenters praised the school for calling Hall by his dead name, the overwhelming majority called him by his preferred name and criticized the school for its treatment of students.
“The guy’s name is Jonas,” one person wrote.
Another user commented, “We can’t do anything great here until we start calling people by their real names. We can edit this to make it right.”
“When you imagine your child’s grades dropping like this,” another wrote.
D’Iberville High School officials have not publicly commented on the controversy. The post containing the allegedly altered photo remains public on Facebook, but the school has restricted who can comment on it.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
