Mississippi School Won’t Allow Lesbian Yearbook Picture

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Ceara Sturgis

(Oct. 17) Openly gay Ceara Sturgis wants her senior picture in her high school yearbook but her school won’t allow it. Why? She’s wearing a tuxedo instead of the traditional drape.

"I tried on the drape and it looked ridiculous. It was terrible" said Sturgis. So she wore the tuxedo instead.

Now, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mississippi has issued a demand to the principal of Wesson Attendance Center, Ronald Greer, to publish the picture of Sturgis in her tux.

The ACLU is giving the school until Oct. 23rd to respond before taking legal action, according to Kristy Bennett, the ACLU’s legal director.

Sturgis, an honor student, goalie for the school’s soccer team and trumpet player, felt she should be able to represent who she is in her senior photo.

"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," Sturgis said in a statement.

Veronica Rodriguez, Sturgis’ mother, said the school was trying to force her daughter to appear more feminine.

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Veronica Rodriguez

"The tux is who she is. She wears boys' clothes. She's athletic. She's gay. She's not feminine," she said.

In August, Rodriguez said she received a letter from the school stating that only boys could wear tuxedos. She then met with assistant Superintendent Ronald Holloway who told her he didn't see regulations about the issue in the student handbook.

But when she spoke with Principal Greer, she said he told her it was his "conviction" that Sturgis wouldn't appear in the yearbook in a tuxedo.

Bennett said Sturgis’ constitutional rights are being violated and similar cases, including same-sex prom couples and girls wearing tuxedos to proms, have been successfully challenged in court in other states.

"You can't discriminate against somebody because they're not masculine enough or because they're not feminine enough. She's making an expression of her sexual orientation through this picture and that invokes First Amendment protection," she said.

Last year the school hosted a backwards beauty and beau pageant.

"It's when the girls dress like guys and the guys dress like girls" said Sturgis.

Now she questions why an event like that could be held at the school and a picture of the event be put in last year’s yearbook but she can’t have her picture in a tux in the yearbook this year.

"I'm paying for the yearbook. I paid for my senior pictures. Why can't it be in there" asked Sturgis.

According to Pete Smith, the spokesman for the state Department of Education, there’s no policy that deals with the yearbook photo issue.