I've been following this case pretty closely, and I'll mention that the mother made a pretty persuasive case the other day to Washington Post reporters that the transfer to the disciplinary school is retaliation for the federal lawsuit.

I can believe that.

One of the reasons I'm following the case is that federal courts have already ruled against Texas school districts more than once in cases based on sexism, which is another element of all this.

The courts have made clear that it's constitutionally impermissible for dress codes to hold boys to different standards than girls. Requiring boys to have shorter hair than girls is impermissible.

That's the end run this school district is attempting to get around the Crown Act. Why, they say, we haven't told him he can't have locs, just that his locs are too long when let down, in violation of our dress code for boys, who are not allowed to have long hair.

In fact, one school official even told a reporter the issue is important because the student has to learn to "conform."

Well!

Isn't that just racist and sexist at the exact same time?

Last year, a Texas school district lost a federal lawsuit after trying for over a year to force a male student to remove the nail polish he wore to school. They tried to send him to a special disciplinary school too.

But the federal judge who ruled in his favor was clear: You allow girls to have long nails and wear nail polish, so you must allow boys to do the same. You may not discriminate on the basis of sex.

The judge's decision was expected and not surprising. This is settled law. But Texas school districts are stubborn. One might almost say Texas school officials demonstrate a troubling problem with following the law, with "conforming."

It seems like in Texas, it takes brave students like the boy at the center of this case to stand up and force school districts to obey the law.

He's almost certainly going to win his lawsuit because his right to wear his hair as he chooses is settled law, but what a testimony to the troubling times we live in that racist, sexist school administrators will put him through hell in the process.