Mississippi school officials have told a 17 year old student who wanted to appear in her yearbook photo wearing a tuxedo that she cannot.

When her female classmates turned up to have their yearbook picture taken they wore ‘drapes’ (as is tradition in the States) but Ceara Sturgis wore a tuxedo.

Sturgis is out and proud and has the support of her mother who said :

“The tux is who she is. She wears boys’ clothes. She’s athletic. She’s gay. She’s not feminine.”

Her mother received a letter following the photoshoot for the yearbook pics saying that only boys could wear tuxedo’s! (Someone should tell Tilda Swinton that as she clearly didn’t get the memo) When her mother met with the principal he admitted there was no rule stating Sturgis couldn’t appear in a tuxedo but that it was “his conviction” that she shouldn’t.

Sturgis has rightly said that she should have the right to dress as she wants to and appear in the year book with all her friends:

“I feel like I’m not important, that the school is dismissing who I am as a gay student and that they don’t even care about me. All I want is to be able to be me, and to be included in the yearbook”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi has now waded in, issuing an ultimatum to the school principal – publish the tuxedo picture or be taken to court. The Copiah County School board has rejected the ACLU’s request.

There is now a Facebook page with over 2000 fans (and rising) supporting the teenager.

Clearly this is all the result of a few school leaders who are letting their personal views get in the way of serving their school in an ethical fashion. As long as a student is sensibly dressed and doesn’t turn up to have their photo taken wearing ripped jeans and with their pierced nipple hanging out, they should be treated with respect. After all Sturgis did wear the traditional yearbook picture attire – it’s just that it was traditional for the guys to wear it!

You can watch Sturgis and her mom in a WLBT news report here. Sturgis mom summed it up well I think – “to hide how you express yourself is not being true to yourself”.