Georgia school bars male student from homecoming queen race under Title IX 

A male student who identifies as female is pushing back after his Georgia high school refused to let him run for homecoming queen.

Riley Williams, the trans-identifying student, wants Charles R. Drew High School in Riverdale, near Atlanta, to change its policy to allow students to run based on their so-called gender identity.

Clayton County Public Schools, however, said it uses the sex listed in students’ school records to determine who can run for king or queen, citing federal Title IX rules.

“Under the current federal interpretation and enforcement of Title IX, gender-based distinctions are recognized based on biological sex,” the district said, according to WSB-TV.

The district does not have a written rule specifically addressing transgender students on homecoming courts. Instead, it follows its practice of basing those roles on sex.

President Donald Trump’s administration enforces Title IX based on biological sex, reversing a decision by the Biden administration, which changed the interpretation in 2024 to include gender identity. Schools that don’t comply face legal action and the loss of federal funding.

A federal judge struck down Biden’s rule nationwide in January 2025, the same month Trump retook office. On Sept. 29 of this year, the Department of Education formally removed the Biden rule from the written federal regulations, as Heartlander News reported. 

Other schools still allow male students to win the queen’s title.

Students at Fairview High School in Pennsylvania elected a male student who identifies as female as homecoming queen last month. The student, Sammi, won the upperclassmen’s vote before the Sept. 26 dance.

The district defended the vote after critics objected online, saying it reflected the students’ choice.

Male students have been winning queen titles for more than a decade.

Olympia High School in Orlando elected Evan Bialosuknia homecoming queen in 2021. The Advocate called Bialosuknia the school’s first transgender homecoming queen.

Oak Park High School in Kansas City, Missouri, crowned transgender student Landon Patterson homecoming queen in 2015.

Additionally, Middleborough High School in Middleborough, Massachusetts, had a transgender-identifying prom queen in 2013.

Williams started a petition on Sept. 22 asking Georgia education officials and local school boards to change their rules.

“School should be a place of acceptance, where every student can express themselves freely and authentically,” he wrote.

Williams blamed a state policy for the school’s decision, while Clayton County said it follows the federal interpretation of Title IX.

(Image credit: WSBTV.com)