Cross-dressing Washington state teen boys barred from high school event

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Two male students have been barred from a Washington state high school's spirit event for dressing like women, sparking a cross-dressing protest that has seen more than a dozen students show up for class posing as the opposite sex, officials and local media said on Friday. The high school sophomores, Mason Mudge and Chandler Krueger, dressed as Miss America and pop star Nikki Minaj when they attended a Spirit Week event on Wednesday at White Pass High School in Randle, about 110 miles south of Seattle, the school said. Though costumes were allowed at the event, the boys were told to either change or go home, and they opted to leave, a school employee said. "If they really wanted Spirit Week, why punish somebody for being spirited?" Krueger, 15, told local broadcaster King 5 News. After the boys left, fellow male and female classmates demonstrated their support by dressing for class on Thursday as the opposite gender, a school employee said. About 10 boys and several girls participated in the cross-dressing protest, King 5 reported. School Superintendent Chuck Wyborney did not immediately respond to a request for comment but told the local news station he was reviewing district policies and that in the future, the situation would be handled differently but did not specify how. "I feel like I did teach people a lesson," Mudge told King 5. (Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Seattle; Editing by Eric M. Johnson and Sandra Maler)