Come June 17, parents may not be able to distinguish their sons from a sea of daughters in crisp white graduation gowns. The fairly new trend of all graduates wearing the same gown color comes after multiple laws recognizing transgender people. Some graduates may feel that they don’t fit into two strict categories — male or female. Ledyard has adopted this trend and it finally seems like the times have caught up to us.

This not only eliminates the fashion faux pas of wearing a dress that horribly shows through the white box of a gown, but it also gives students struggling with their own identity a chance to look like everyone else, if only for one night. It’s a win-win situation.

Ledyard opting for matching navy blue graduation gowns has already gotten criticism online. The flak stems from some girls wanting to keep the traditional white and not match with the boys’ blue. It seems a little silly to argue over the color of a gown you’ll wear for a few hours to take celebratory pictures in and then drop cake on later. You know what else is unfair? Millions of transgender teens feeling uncomfortable on their graduation day because of a divide that literally dictates what color they should wear.

It’s 2016 and breaking events into two genders isn’t applicable anymore. With more than 200 graduates of the same highschool, of the same town, on the same night splitting up the senior class into two groups would be taking a giant step backwards.

You should be proud of Ledyard, even if it means wearing something that’s not your color.

Leah Sheltry, Assistant Editor-in-Chief

Senior Leah Sheltry is the Assistant Editor-in-Chief of the 2015-2016 Colonel. She is the secretary of Youth United for Global Action and Awareness (YUGA) Club and is on the swim team. She will attend Lasell College to study Fashion Communication & Promotion next fall.