Damian Garcia, a senior at St. Pius High School, requested to walk in a boy's black cap and gown for graduation. However,
the schools' administration refused to recognize Damian's gender identity, because although he identifies as a male and has
legally changed his name, he still has female marked on his birth certificate.
More than 28,000 people signed the MoveOn petition started by Toorey Moorman and her two sons in support of
Damian.
While Damian's school ultimately chose not honor his request for a male robe, his bravery in
standing up and the support from this campaign have changed the school's graduation robe policy for years to come.
Here's a full update from the petition creators:
Thank you to everyone who has signed "Let Damian Walk," whether you are a recent signer and this is your first "thank you" or you were one of the original 38 from Thursday morning. Sunday was windy, extremely windy. We are hoping they were the winds of change and that Damian's archdiocese will make a loving decision to allow Damian walk in black robes.
Already, the school has decided all future classes will graduate wearing the same color gowns. This means that no matter what, Damian has been effective in affecting positive change, change that was brought about by the 26,000+ petition signers like yourself.
We have delivered the signatures to the archbishop who made the decision to force Damian to walk in white cap and gown.
This is not just about Damian; this is to support everyone within the Catholic Church, and the hundreds of signers who felt their only option was to leave the Catholic Church and who do not fall into narrowly constructed sexual identities. "A person's a person, no matter how small, no matter their gender, skin color, disability, or sexual orientation. Every person deserves to be loved, because every one of us were created to love and be loved...unconditionally." (Quote by Dr.. Seuss, Horton Hears A Who).
Thank you!Torrey, William, Cat, Phynn, and the entire Garcia family
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