I got my left earlobe pierced in late 1982, when I was 14 and in the 9th grade. It was a fairly novel thing at my school at the time, and I got a lot of flak from the other kids for it. On one occasion my English teacher, overhearing someone teasing me, told everyone to turn to a specific page in our textbooks. There, on the page, was a graphic representation of William Shakespeare. He was wearing an earring in his left ear, and the teacher told the kids that if it was cool enough for Shakespeare to do it, they should probably rethink their positions on the matter.
That was great, but the School Administration was not in favor of my fashion statement. Claiming that it was against school policy for boys to wear earrings, they confiscated the stud I had originally pierced my ear with. I then wore the other one backwards so that it would be harder to notice. Eventually, it was noticed and confiscated. The running battle continued, and eventually the school had about six of my stud earrings in a drawer somewhere.
Finally my stepmother contacted the Administration so she could understand why it was against the rules. She was told it was a “gang symbol.” She made them be very specific about what the school considered a “gang symbol.” She was told that it was “a boy with one ear pierced.”
My stepmother then asked, “so if he wore earrings in both ears, that would be OK?”
“Yes,” was the reply.
So, I waited. Finally, the weekend before 9th grade graduation I had my right ear pierced. On graduation day I borrowed a pair of my stepmother’s dangly earrings and wore them to school. As I walked down the line of 9th graders waiting to parade into the auditorium for the ceremony, I was greeted with derision.
“Are you gay?” several kids shouted at me. I shook my head, embarrassed. I hadn’t expected to be the center of so much negative attention.
Finally, I took my place in line, and the Administrator walked down the line, checking, I guess, to make sure no one was dressed inappropriately for such a momentous occasion. When she got to me, she stopped. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said, and held out her hand for me to give her the earrings.
“I thought you said it would be OK if I wore one in each ear,” I told her.
“I didn’t think you would take me seriously!” she snapped back.
I gave her the earrings, and after I graduated, my stepmother and I went to the Administrator’s office. She opened a drawer and gave back all the earrings that had been taken from me over the previous 15 months.
From that day in June of '83 until I got my first job at a bank in 1996 I wore a variety of earrings in my left ear, from a tiny diamond stud to a large plastic dangly Earth, to my favorite, a pewter Starship Enterprise. No one ever accused me of being a gang member. In fact, by the summer of 1984, it was so common for boys my age to have their left earlobe pierced, my piercing provoked hardly any comments at all.
