K-12 Hero Stands Up, Takes Down Transgender Symbol in Boys’ Restroom

A tampon dispenser that was stealthily installed in a boys’ restroom at Brookfield High School in Brookfield, Connecticut, was quickly removed after students opposed the school’s transgender advocacy.

“It wasn’t out of hate for trans people at all. I don’t have a single ounce of hate for anyone,” Brookfield student Michael Cestone, who ripped the tampon dispenser down, told Libs of TikTok owner Chaya Raichik.

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“I did it because I personally felt strongly about it, and I felt that the school should have notified us — all of our families,” Cestone continued, adding that the restroom in question is visited by students “from grades three to twelve.”

Cestone explained that he found out his school had installed the tampon dispenser in the boys’ restroom via his peers’ social media, but that “the school didn’t notify us at all,” leaving him “outraged” and “confused.”

“This agenda is something that we, as young people, aren’t really used to having on us — we have never learned to deal with situations like that,” the student said.

Cestone recalled walking into the restroom and seeing “at least twenty” other students “rallying around” the tampon dispenser, demanding to know why it was there.

“My objective going in there was just to see what was going on and then it turned into me taking it down,” the student said, adding that when he got home, “I called the school and I admitted to it, because it set in, and I was like, ‘What did I just do?'”

Brookfield High School Principal Marc Balanda then tried to classify the incident as a hate crime, Cestone’s associate Austin Montero told Raichik.

But once the story of the incident got out to the media, putting Brookfield “on the map,” classifying the incident as a hate crime was no longer “on the table,” Montero said.

“I think sharing that story of what happened really quelled that from ever going to that place of ‘restorative discipline,’ as the principal called it,” Montero explained.

Cestone concurred, saying that he believes he was not punished because of media coverage.

“Because if it didn’t get coverage, they probably would have punished me with something,” the student said.

Montero added that he is nonetheless “really disheartened and dismayed by the principal’s actions,” saying that Balanda “should have communicated” regarding the new law that “doesn’t go into effect until this September.”

He was referring to an upcoming state law mandating menstrual products to be provided in at least one men’s restroom in Connecticut public schools.

Cestone concluded by saying that he went public with his story because Principal Balanda said he would send an apology email to the high school community on his behalf, which would also clarify that Cestone did not remove the tampon dispenser out of hate — but never did.

“What I did was genuinely not out of hate for anyone,” Cestone reiterated. “The reason why I decided to go public with this is because he didn’t end up sending that email that he said he would send.”

“That was kind of upsetting to me, because there’s some people in my own school who view me differently because of what I did, and I genuinely thought an email would help breeze that over a little bit,” the student added.

As Breitbart News reported, the incident occurred earlier this month, with the Brookfield superintendent saying that the high school intends to keep following the new Connecticut law stating that such dispensers must be placed in certain areas.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.