Male cheerleader wants to dance with the girls
Benjamin Grundy wants to do the same dance and kicks as the girl cheerleaders. He says school administrators are discriminating against him.
KXLY reports Grundy and his mother, Suzanne Grundy, say school officials should be reprimanded for causing him severe emotional trauma.
"At the beginning of the current season I was told I'd be able to participate in everything other cheerleaders would do, including the dance routine," Benjamin Grundy said.
However, the family claims Gar-Pal's athletic director later pressured the boy to be the mascot instead of a cheerleader. Later he was forbidden from moving his legs and feet, dancing or even shaking his hips when he cheered.
"I was reduced to standing there and moving my arms," Benjamin said. "I didn't lift my legs or move from the place I was at, I just stood there."
Superintendent Beverly Fox won't comment on the specific case but says district policy is that every student has the same rights everybody has, without discrimination.
Suzanne Grundy says "the combination of a bi-racial, mentally challenged gay male may be too much for them."