Boy ordered to take off Princess Elsa costume in school

A California middle school is facing backlash after a 13-year-old student was ordered to remove his Princess Elsa costume during a Disney dress-up day.
Austin Lacey, an eighth-grader at Ethan Chase Middle School in Riverside County, was among many students who came to school in costume for a Disney-themed spirit day Thursday, and decided to dress up in a sparkly blue gown and blonde braided wig to emulate Frozen's Princess Elsa.

"I wore it for fun because I'm just one of those people," Lacey told KTLA. "I like to go all out."

Other students liked the costume, too, Lacey said, and asked to take selfies with him.
This, according to the school's principal, was what led to Lacey being asked to remove the costume, which the principal said was distracting other students.

Lacey's mother, however, said her son was asked to remove the costume for a different reason entirely. In a Facebook post Thursday, Brooke Francev alleged she was told by the school principal that "it is not okay for boys to dress like girls or girls to dress like boys."

 

Other students were apparently upset by the school's decision, too, Francev said. In a second Facebook post, she shared a photo of a flyer she said had been made by Ethan Chase Middle School students, which encouraged the student body to cross-dress the following week as a show of support for the LGBT community.

 

Neither the principal nor the middle school have commented on the incident, but Romoland School District Superintendent Dr. Julie Vitale said in a statement sent to KTLA that the principal's actions were in line with the district's policies.

"At no time was there any indication that the student was expressing any particular message," Vitale said. "The Principal's action was based upon the need to stop a general disruption to the school environment."

Source: Mashable