West Chester School District Adopts 'Gender Neutral' Grad Gowns

WEST CHESTER, PA — West Chester Area School District will adopt "gender neutral" gowns beginning with the 2020 graduation ceremony, the school district recently announced.

The new gowns will be a single color for all students, instead of the traditionally mixed colors based on gender.

The policy will be in place at all three of the school district's high schools: Rustin, West, and Henderson.

"I think we should have done this 25 years ago," West Chester Superintendent Jim Scanlon told 6ABC. "We have a gown for boys and gown for girls but we only have one diploma."

Scanlon reportedly said a majority of outgoing seniors supported the decision in a poll. But the move has inspired an online petition in protest.

"Change Back Rustin's Graduation Gowns" had more than a thousand signatures as of early Thursday afternoon.

"Why does everything have to be ruined for our kids?," one signee commented. "Just let them choose what gown color they want. School colors remain, everyone is happy!

"It's tradition, and in the words of Rustin football 'tradition never graduates,'" another put in.

And perhaps the most emblematic remark: "This offends me and if something offends someone it needs to be changed."

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