Students showed up wearing neckties and bowties to a private San Francisco Catholic school on Friday in support of a senior girl who wore a tux in her school photo – a photo they believe won’t appear in the yearbook.
The brother of Jessica Urbina, a senior at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, told NBC Bay Area he was informed Thursday by someone at the school that his sister's picture would appear "altered" in the yearbook.
That possibility has sparked not only the ties but also a hashtag campaign, #JessicasTux, by her classmates as they rally to support her.
Their campaign comes as support has coalesced nationwide in recent years for students who have faced discipline for breaking dress codes on campus, and as the nation grapples with changes, and challenges, to gender norms.
“I was notified that SHCP will 'represent' my sister by having an alternative picture listed in the yearbook,” Jessica's brother Michael Urbina posted on his Facebook page. Jessica has declined interviews.
Her brother also declined to say more until he could meet with administrators, hopefully later on Friday or Monday. Neither he nor his sister has seen a yearbook, since they don't come out until next week.
Please support my sister! Here's a clearer image for everyone to use! http://t.co/Vl6QPypbpj #equity #JessicasTux pic.twitter.com/oNNVAkD2XZ
— Michael Urbina (@michael_urbina) May 16, 2014
The school, for its part, has not given a definitive answer on whether Jessica's image will appear altered in any way.
Principal Gary Cannon said he couldn't say much, citing a student's right to privacy, but indicated that he had previous talks with Jessica about what was allowed in the photo, and what was not.
According to the school policy regarding yearbook photos, girls must wear “drapes,” and boys must wear a shirt, tie and jacket.
Cannon did insist Jessica was in the yearbook, though he wouldn't comment exactly how she would apear. The school's website reads in part: "As we prepare to pass out yearbooks it is always regretful when a student portrait is omitted for any reason. As a community we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that all students are included in the future."
“Every student, every senior, is in the yearbook,” he said outside the school, which promotes the slogan, “Fearless, we pursue excellence.”
“It has to do with the ‘senior portrait issue’ and the regulations that we have. Those policies are clearly laid out," he added.
He added that all this attention on gender and equality issues might have administrators reconsidering their yearbook dress code.
“That doesn’t mean you don’t reassess your policies,” he said.
While finding out exactly how Jessica will be remembered as she looked in the Class of 2014 isn’t fully known, what is clear is that she has many friends who support her dressing in a way traditionally associated with men -- something they say she does “all the time.”
On Twitter, friends said they wanted to show how their former high school “the errors of its ways,” and that “Jessica roks!!”
Certified $uperwoman tweeted: “Hope every student shows up with a tie on at S.H. cuz it sends a message to Archdiocese that they are the ones teaching hate. #JessicasTux.”
Gameday ready? #JessicasTux pic.twitter.com/VnJWa5GuA0
— JustBae (@Jsaligumbaa) May 16, 2014
The tuxedo issue in San Francisco has similar echoes from coast to coast. In March, the ACLU sued on behalf of gay students in San Bernandino County who had been told they needed to wear "gender-specific" attire for prom and yearbook photos.
That's similar to a case four years ago in which the ACLU sued a high school in Wesson, Mississippi, for excluding Ceara Sturgis’ name and senior portrait from her yearbook because she had worn a tux.
And in 2010, Sarah Lloyd was finally allowed to wear a tuxedo in her yearbook photo, after a battle between school board members in Arkansas.
In the Bay Area, friends and strangers alike rallied behind Sasha Fleischman after the teen - who was born a biological boy but identifies with neither sex - was severely burned when somebody set "their" skirt on fire on a bus in November. Supporters paid tribute to Sasha's freedom to express their gender identity by dressing up in skirts and covering the city in rainbows. Sasha prefers to be referred to in the plural.
Tatiana Richardson wants her friend, Jessica, to feel that kind of support.
That's why she helped create the hashtag campaign to get her peers to wear ties to school. She showed up to campus in a bright pink bowtie.
“I know this goes against tradition, but times are a-changing," Richardson said outside school. "It’s just just boys and girls now, there is so much more. They teach at this Catholic school to be who were are, to accept everybody, so that’s what we’re doing.”
Tatiana Richardson, a friend of Jessica Urbina's, who wore a tie to school to support her friend who wore a tux in her yearbook photo. May 16, 2014.