A whole lot of people went out of their way to congratulate an excellent student named Jonas on achieving the second-highest grade in the D’
Dawn Ennis at The Advocate:
A Mississippi high school is facing backlash after a Facebook post celebrating its 2026 salutatorian deadnamed the transgender student and appeared to digitally alter his appearance. The post, published Sunday by D'Iberville High School in Biloxi, congratulated salutatorian Jonas Hole with the caption, “Pride. Tradition. Excellence. Congratulations to our DHS Salutatorian,” before identifying him by his deadname. The post quickly drew criticism online, generating more than 1,300 comments, over 650 reactions, and nearly 90 shares as commenters accused the school of transphobia and rallied in support of Hole, who identifies as transmasculine. Many commenters also alleged the school edited Hole’s senior portrait before posting it online. “They photoshopped his mustache off to make him look more ‘feminine,’” commenter Micheala Boffman wrote.
[...] The backlash also renewed criticism over allegations that several students, including Hole, were excluded from the school’s yearbook because they did not comply with gender specific dress requirements for senior portraits. A Mississippi man named Douglas Myatt, one of dozens of people who reshared the post, accused the school of targeting transgender students. “D’Iberville should be ashamed,” he wrote. “‘Pride’ yet they deadname this student and edit out a mustache. They also removed him and several students from the yearbook completely for wearing a tux in their senior photo. Teens are literally killing themselves because of transphobia, but the school chooses to continue on with the bigotry. Disappointed to say the least. My faith in humanity is restored a little bit by the messages of support for Jonas.” Not all of the responses were supportive. Some commenters posted anti-LGBTQ+ remarks or questioned whether Hole’s legal name should take precedence over his chosen name in the post.
Censorship in action at D’Iberville High School in Biloxi, Mississippi: The high school edited the appearance of valedictorian Jonas Hole and deadnamed the trans valedictorian.
See Also:
LGBTQ Nation: High school under fire for allegedly altering salutatorian’s picture to make him seem feminine