【2019 Archives】

When a student at a private school in Wellington019 Archives England, was denied the right to look fabulous at his graduation assembly, his classmates banded together to defend him-- almost 300 of them.

Phillipp Penning asked for permission to wear a dress for his graduation assembly, but was denied-- it was deemed "informal" and "unrespectable" by their school principal, according to the Justice for Phillipp website.

His classmates quickly banded together, starting an online petition that gathered 283 signatures within 24 hours. The school granted him permission, and as a result, the world has this precious and fabulous video of Phillipp performing "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor at the assembly:

He ends it beautifully and defiantly with "I'm the most gay thing that's ever happened to Charlton School."

The cheering audience clearly reflects the support he received from the student body. His school, too, showed their support, featuring his photo in their Facebook album of graduating students.

Penning was inspired to dress in drag after performing as Edna in the school's production of Hairspray, a character traditionally played by a man in drag (most famously John Travolta). Penning told The Birmingham Mail, “The teacher who was helping us was very impressed by the performance and suggested I did something related to that. I thought this was a brilliant idea."

And it is brilliant-- how could it not be when you look this good doing it?

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