15-Year-Old Boy Banned from Dancing with Girls in Minnesota
The Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit legal foundation, sent a letter to the Minnesota State High School League on behalf Kaiden Johnson, demanding that he be allowed to dance. The letter threatened a lawsuit.
Johnson, a 15 year-old sophomore, attends Superior High School in Wisconsin. According to the Pioneer Press his school allows him to participate on the girls' dance team. The issue arose when his team crossed the border to compete with Minnesota schools and he wasn't allowed to participate because of his gender.
Attorney Joshua Thompson from the Pacific Legal Foundation was quoted in the Pioneer Press article: “It’s a classification based on 1970s ideals about what boys should be doing and what girls should be doing.” He went on to say that the league's decision is a violation of the 14th amendment's equal protection clause and that the high school league should allow any boy in Minnesota to dance competitively.