McDowell GSA Spirit Week Goes Viral
by McDowell GSA 2022-2023 President, Lauren
This April, McDowell's GSA created a Spirit Week to celebrate the opening of McDowell CPA's The Prom. Thursday was Dress in Drag Day, meaning that kids would dress up as drag kings or queens (within the school dress code). When the spirit week was made, there were no thoughts of any issues. The GSA spirit weeks are entirely optional. Little did the club know that the spirit week would go viral. On Tuesday, April 25th, there were posts on Twitter about how 4 out of the five days were fine for a spirit week, but Thursday was unacceptable. In the original post, the person wrote, "My issue is not with pride day or lesbian pride, but the drag day. Drag is a kink, and to push it on impressionable teenagers is absolutely appalling and needs to be stopped…..this is grooming". Under the post, many people agreed with the statement, and few tried to back up McDowell's decision.
Furthermore, when word spread to the Millcreek superintendent, Dr. Ian Roberts made an official statement saying that McDowell GSA is free to do the spirit week as they please under the Equal Access Act of 1984. After the statement was released, an article on the Erie News Now website was published, as well as Fox/Jet24 did a TV interview/rundown of what was happening that day. Later on that Thursday, a few people dressed in drag to show support. Aside from that, it was like a normal day. The play The Prom was also a hit with selling out in almost all four performances.