A few days after 17-year-old trans student Maria Muniz was reportedly fined for wearing a skirt to school, a large group of students – both male and female – protested by donning skirts themselves.
The school, Colegio Pedro II in Rio De Janeiro, has a dress code that calls for boys to wear trousers, while female students are allowed to wear either trousers or skirts.
Maria told the UK's Orange News, "I always turned up in trousers but I felt repressed and for me wearing a skirt was about expressing my freedom over who I am inside and not how society sees me."
"I am really happy about the way my classmates supported me and I hope it serves as an example to others to feel encouraged to do the right thing. I was always taught at school to accept who you are, I am only trying to live that."
The image of the support quickly spread, with people using the hashtag "VoudeSaia" ("wearing a skirt") to voice their support:
The school's principal is taking the student's reaction into consideration for a possible new dress code.
"The sexual orientation is not important for us, all our students are equal. However, the uniform determines male and female clothing, but we will study a new manual of coexistence", he said.