He pulled out his lunch, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He was sitting at the same table he’d sat at since the beginning of the school year so Lincoln High School freshman Michael McCracken was surprised when he was randomly approached by his guidance counselor.

“It was the day before Halloween, during lunch when [my counselor] Mrs. Lee came up to me” McCracken said.

He was told that he was out of dress code. When he asked what was wrong with outfit, his counselor told him that he was not allowed to wear a skirt.

“Her exact words were ‘Your outfit is a distraction to the other boys in the school and you need to tone down your flamboyant side because it is against the dress code for you to wear a skirt.’” McCracken said.

Michael was outraged. This had never happened before and he knew that there was no rules in his student handbook prohibiting him from wearing a skirt, as long as it was the proper length.

“The skirt was all black with sparkles. It was really cute. It went all the way to my knees and I was still wearing leggings underneath,” McCracken said.

Michael tried to reason with Mrs. Lee and defend himself to no avail.

“I told her that the situation was complete stupidity. After that I was sad. During the day I got called a ‘faggot’ and ‘queer’ more than ever and it really hurt. And I actually got told God hates me and I should just kill myself. It was a rough day,” McCracken said.

All he wants is for future students to never have to experience what he had to experience.

“I think that fashion is a freedom of expression and I want to make it better for future Lincoln students,” McCracken said.

Last week, 4 of McCracken’s closest friends rallied together because they were appalled at what happened. They wanted a day dedicated to Michael and other LGBT youth.

“We did not just do it for Michael- it was for anyone suffering from this type of discrimination. Michael’s incident just gave us a reason to execute such a great idea,” Sarah Lopez said.

The girls decided to set a date, November 21, for everyone to wear skirts in honor of Michael.

Promoting the event with the hashtag #skirts4michael, there were over 100 posts on Instagram with the tag.

Electronic flyers were made and posted all over Instagram with students vowing to wear skirts on Friday.

“The idea was well thought out and cute. I loved how it wasn’t to rebel against the administration but to promote freedom of expression,” Christine Leverton said.

Michael was touched by this act of kindness and admits he was surprised but very grateful.

“I love my best friends and the fact that they did this. They’re great,” McCracken said.

He and all of his friends wore their skirts to school Friday without any of the staff giving students grief.

“I think we can all learn from this. I want people to remember this day when they decide they don’t want to be who they are.” McCracken said.

by DESIREE STONE