Parent in Phoenix Says Administrators Made Her Son Wear Pink Fairy Wings on First Day of High School

Because dressing up in queer fairy wings is totally normal, just like two men having disease-ridden sexual intercourse.

If you're not down with that you're a hater!

At the Arizona Republic, "Sunnyslope parent likens orientation to hazing" (via DernDawn):

Monalee Kamlley said her son was nervous to start classes at Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix. She said she spent all summer reassuring him that his first day would be fine.

"The night before, he couldn't even eat he was so nervous, and he couldn't even sleep," Kamlley said.

So when she asked her son how it went after school, he hesitated, then finally mentioned that he had to "walk around in wings" for much of the morning.

Then she saw the costume: pink glittery "fairy" wings and a black furry mustache.

Kamlley said she's upset with the way Sunnyslope treated her son, and she likened the episode to hazing. Her son was embarrassed, she said, and added that the event ruined his first day of high school.

School officials said the costumes are part of the orientation program and weren't meant to embarrass the students. Principal Steve Ducey said they've never had other complaints but called the parent feedback "valuable." However, the school has no plans to get rid of the program, he said.

Whether the incident could be called hazing is murky, said Sabina Low, an assistant research professor at Arizona State University's T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics. Hazing typically is a form of initiation that is intentionally humiliating but often meant as a bonding experience.

"I'm sure they did not set out to make it a humiliating experience for students. So I think calling this hazing is a little bit unclear," Low said. "This one might be a much-watered-down version of that."

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