Student Not Allowed To Attend Prom Because They Wore A Suit— 'I Will Not Compromise Who I Am To Fit In A Box'
B Hayes is standing up against an unjust administrative rule.
TikTok A high school senior was denied entry to their prom due to how they were dressed but they're not allowing their school's restrictive rules to stop them from being who they are.
B Hayes, 18, has attended Nashville Christian School in Nashville, Tennessee for the past 13 years. The preparatory school boasts that their vision is to “help students realize and pursue their full potential—spiritually, intellectually, physically, and socially, while learning to establish and grow their relationship with God.”
Yet Hayes’ experience at prom was one of discrimination, all because of what they chose to wear.
The Nashville student wasn’t allowed to attend their senior prom because they wore a suit to the school-sponsored event.
In a post made to their Instagram account on April 23, 2023, Hayes is pictured standing outside a venue holding a sign that states, “They wouldn’t let me in because I’m in a suit.”
In Hayes' Instagram bio, he lists that he uses he/they pronouns.
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In the background of the photograph, other students can be seen getting out of a vehicle on their way into the venue. Some students are dressed in formal gowns, and another is pictured also wearing a suit.
In the caption to their post, Hayes introduces themself and calls into question the school’s decision.
“My name is B Hayes,” he wrote. “I am 18 years old and I’ve been attending Nashville Christian School for 13 years. My senior prom was today and I wasn’t allowed in the doors because I was wearing a suit.”
“I should not have to conform to femininity to attend my prom,” they stated. “I will not compromise who I am to fit in a box. Who are you to tell us what it means to be a woman?”
The issue of dress-coding students depending on their gender is inherently unequal, as some students have called attention to in their own schools.
Hayes took a stand against Nashville Christian School by calling out the administration for not allowing them to attend prom.
Hayes’ Instagram post has over 13,000 likes and has garnered many supportive comments. Some commented on the irony of a school espousing Christian love while denying a student the right to their most authentic form of self-expression. Others commented that Hayes looked “really sharp” in their suit.
Still, others had a wider message of acceptance and inclusion to offer Hayes.
“There’s a whole world waiting to accept and see you exactly the way you are,” wrote one person in the comments. “Being true to yourself and standing up for your authentic self has already begun infinite ripples of change against these archaic systems rooted in a scarcity mindset and washed in white supremacy. There is always enough for all, including love.”
Various venues in Nashville have come out in support of Hayes and their right to dress how they want. Music venue Anzie Blue reposted Hayes’ account of what happened at their prom, alongside the caption, “We need to do better, Nashville.”
The venue stated via Instagram that they “have a few things planned” for Hayes and to “show the world what the Nashville community is really like.”
The school’s refusal to allow Hayes into prom because of their outfit comes at the heels of expanded legislative attempts across Tennessee to criminalize members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee recently signed into law Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1, which denies healthcare providers from offering gender-affirming care to transgender minors. Lee also signed Senate Bill 3, also known as the drag ban, which prohibits “‘adult cabaret performances’ from taking place within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks or places of worship.”
While a federal judge temporarily blocked Senate Bill 3 just hours before it was to go into effect, the message legislators and administrators are sending to their queer constituents is clear. Their attempts to ban people’s bodies, gender expressions, and who and how they love is an authoritarian attempt to take autonomy away from citizens.
By making their prom experience public, Hayes is standing up to those who want to silence them. The teenager deserves to exist in the world according to their own rules and forms of expression— and he deserve a world that supports them entirely.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers issues related to the LGBTQ+ community, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.