May 20, 2009
Judge Tom
3

Is wearing a kilt cross-dressing?

As part of an art project, Utah middle-school student Gavin McFarland wore a kilt to school.  The principal of Rocky Mountain Jr. High made the 14-year-old change his clothes.  He told Gavin that the outfit could be mistaken as cross-dressing.

The school district recognized the kilt as an expression of Gavin’s Scottish heritage and not inappropriate.  They asked the principal to apologize to Gavin. [A kilt is traditional men’s wear in Scotland for formal or special occasions.]

Photo by Ianrob63 (Flickr)

Regardless of tradition, should students be prohibited from cross-dressing?  If the school doesn’t require uniforms, what do you think about girls wearing pants and shirts rather than skirts and blouses?  Should boys be allowed to wear girls’ clothes if they choose?  How does Tinker apply to this issue?

Judge Tom

The Author Judge Tom

Judge Tom is the founder and moderator of AsktheJudge.info. He is a retired juvenile judge and spent 23 years on the bench. He has written several books for lawyers and judges as well as teens and parents including 'Teen Cyberbullying Investigated' (Free Spirit Publishing) and 'Every Vote Matters: the Power of Your Voice, from Student Elections to the Supreme Court' (Free Spirit Publishing). In 2020, the American Bar Association published "Cyberbullying Law," the nation's first case-law book written for lawyers, judges and law students. When he's not answering teens' questions, Judge Tom volunteers with the American Red Cross and can be found hiking, traveling and reading.

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3 Comments

  • Cameron Garcia
    July 27, 2012 1:46 pm count( 0 )

    Well should you tell Samoans males that wearing their traditional short skirt with a shirt/tie is also crossdressing, and they could be perceived as female? Or how about a Japanese politician, or the emperor wearing the traditional long robes, or would you tell the Chinese emperor in the 1900’s also the same thing?

    I think that before any judgement should have een made, the principal should have gone back to school and see just what is the traditional mode of dress. Dress and the wearing of traditional at some point in time could have been considered a insult, and a prelude to war…

  • Marshall Hughes
    October 1, 2009 5:09 am count( 1 )

    i would like to state that wearing a kilt is NOT cross dressing i should know becuse i am a dragqueen that works her ass off so please be sure to know your facts before you say that it is cross dressing
    a kilt is a male garment as opposed to a skirt that is meant for a woman and even aquarts those are for girls as well
    whare as a kilt is a trditional mens garment and to speek to cotrary is inappropreate and wrong

  • Jkid
    May 20, 2009 10:33 am count( 2 )

    Isn’t America a free country? Cross-dressing should be allowed, simply apply the dress code for the clothing, not for the gender. People should have much bigger things to worry about than men cross dressing, because women has been wearing pants for decades.

    Although the boys may have to wear long socks to cover the hairy legs, both genders should have the choice to wear whatever they want as long as they are worn properly.