Diversity, in this day in age, is a demanding form of tolerance many people aren’t accustom to. The Shores community had a first-hand opportunity to share acceptance with people around the world during Homecoming this year.

However, some people are saying Shores’ administrators dropped the ball.

And now the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is involved.

It all started, when Oak Reed, a senior at Shores, decided to launch a campaign, via Facebook, for him to be Homecoming King.

However, Reed, whose birth name is Oakleigh Marie Reed, is a transgender. The issue arose because Oak, who now goes by Oak Marshall Reed, is listed on school records as a female.

And because of this fact, administrators decided to disregard the votes for Reed’s nomination for Homecoming court.

"People were coming up to me telling me how sorry they felt because I wouldn’t have a chance at being nominated for court," Reed said.

These comments were the drive behind Reed’s behavior, but he didn’t think it would be a problem.

However, principal Jennifer Bustard said the Gender Equity case law in Michigan states that schools must recognize each student as their anatomical identity when it comes to formal events.

"I had no choice but to dismiss the votes," Ms. Bustard said. "One has to look at the entire student body when decisions are made. This is a caring profession. Decisions aren’t made out of spite."

However, this decision sent Reed mixed signals. Ms. Bustard said since Reed was a sophomore, the administration has been working with him to make school easier and more comfortable for him.

"The administration has been very supportive of what I’m going through," Reed said. "They have attended to even the little things like gowns for graduation and gym class, and that means a lot to me."

The Homecoming ballot was set up in a way where it was made it clear that females were eligible for Queen and males were eligible for King, and because the school still recognizes Reed as a female on records, votes for Reed were disregarded. The final tally of Reed’s votes was never reached.

On Friday, Sept. 17, during fifth hour, Homecoming court was announced, and when Reed was not recognized in any way, students were sure of discrimination, and rumors spread that Reed did win the throne.

Within a week, a Facebook group titled "Oak is my King" was formed by senior Nick Schrier, and as of Oct. 4, it had more than 11,000 members from all over the world.

"I had no idea that this would grow as fast as it did," Schrier said. "All I wanted to do was show Oak how many people supported him."

However, not everyone is behind Reed; a Facebook page titled "Oak is NOT my King" recently was created. The creator, however, has not surfaced, and only 25 people, as of Oct. 6, said they agreed with this.

"I guess that’s what high school students do," Reed said. "When they don’t like something, they make a Facebook page about it."

The "Oak is my King" members around the world wore "Oak is my King" T-shirts on Oct. 1, and approximately 30 students wore them at Shores. The group also launched a letter-writing campaign in hopes of making the administration rethink its decision.

This attempt has flourished. Ms. Bustard said administrators received hundreds of emails with both a positive and negative tone, and administrators are responding to all of them.

Reed made a comment on the "Oak is my King" group page thanking people for the support but also asking students to stay professional with their protests.

However, on Wednesday, Sept. 22, senior Chris Enders hacked into the school web site and changed the discrimination policy to make a mockery of it.

"It was my way of protesting what I considered to be discrimination against a classmate," said Enders, who added that the consequence was a five-day suspension. "If the school is going to take away a transgendered student’s right to be himself, then they can not claim to adhere to a policy of non-discrimination. I simply corrected the web site’s policy and made it more consistent with reality."

After Ender’s action, the administration removed the altered document and replaced it to its original content.

After this event, administrators called a meeting where Reed’s grandma and dad were asked to be present. Reed said administrators didn’t really explain why this was happening but just told him what had been going on.

That day, Reed went home from school after having an anxiety attack.

"I thought (the entire situation) was sort of hypocritical," Reed said. "You can’t let someone be themselves one minute and then disregard what they associate as the next."

This fact is one reason why the ACLU decided to get involved after hearing about the issue on Wood TV 8’s broadcast on Sunday, Sept. 26.

"We had our concerns about legal issues," said Jay Kaplan, the ACLU’s attorney for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Legal Project.

The legal issues the ACLU is worried about aren’t just discrimination. Kaplan said they are also looking into the First Amendment rights of the students who voted for Reed.

"The freedom of speech is what these students exercised, and voting is protected under the First Amendment," Kaplan said.

Kaplan explained the ACLU is focusing on the discrimination aspect of the issue. Kaplan said the record of Reed being born a female has no relevance to him being eligible for Homecoming King.

"Oak’s birth certificate is a legal document. No matter what it says, Oak is who he associates as," Kaplan said. "And that is a boy."

The ACLU’s hope, Kaplan said, is to make the administration rethink its decision and educate them more on the legal side of the issue. However, he said the administration isn’t going about everything wrong.

"The staff and students at Mona Shores have regarded Oak as a male, and this is a good thing," Kaplan said.

Additionally, administrators are working with the Student Senate to work on getting Shores students’ questions about the situation answered and to reach a solution for upcoming years.

Before Homecoming, Reed was just an ordinary high school student. Now, Reed, who is planning to begin the process of a full transformation at the age of 18, said he has become the face of transgenders across the nation.

"I’ve sort of become the ‘Martin Luther King Junior’ of our time," said Reed, who also wrote a note the week of Oct. 4 on a Facebook activist page respectfully addressing Shores’ administration. "It’s a big responsibility, but I think that because I have such firm morals, I’ll be able to do it and really make a difference peacefully."