Lesbian Student Fights for Yearbook Tuxedo Photo

[Miles]

JACKSON, Miss. — Everyone at Wesson Attendance Center knows 17-year-old Ceara Sturgis is gay because she's never tried to hide it.

But when Sturgis — an honor student, trumpet player and goalie on the school's soccer team — wanted her senior photograph in a tuxedo used in the 2009-10 yearbook, school officials balked. Traditionally, female students dress in drapes and males wear tuxedos.

Now, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi has gotten involved, issuing a demand letter to Principal Ronald Greer to publish the picture of Sturgis in the tuxedo. The ACLU says it's giving the school until Oct. 23 to respond before pursuing court action, said Kristy L. Bennett, the ACLU's legal director.

Sturgis said she should get to decide how she looks in the 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.

source

So, who should prevail?

[JoeyKnothead]

From Post 20:

If I don't want to wear a dress I shouldn't have to.

Are you giving me an objective standard to which society must conform to? I thought you didn't believe in those...

I: the one who is speaking or writing

If I could tote the goofy it took to get from I to society, the cart's axles'd break under the strain before I could get half of it it all loaded up real good.

[Defender of Truth]

If I could tote the goofy it took to get from I to society, the cart's axles'd break under the strain before I could get half of it it all loaded up real good.

Ahh, but look at it closer. If she shouldn't have to wear a dress, then it leads necessarily to the idea that society shouldn't make her wear a dress, because it's her right. It's an objective standard...

[JoeyKnothead]

If I could tote the goofy it took to get from I to society, the cart's axles'd break under the strain before I could get half of it it all loaded up real good.

Ahh, but look at it closer. If she shouldn't have to wear a dress, then it leads necessarily to the idea that society shouldn't make her wear a dress, because it's her right. It's an objective standard...

I think this point is just semantics.

I accept the implication she's asking society to conform to her standard about what she chooses to wear, but it really doesn't accurately reflect that she's the one that's gotta wear it.

If there's an objective standard involved here, let that standard be freedom to pick one's own clothes.

[Defender of Truth]

If there's an objective standard involved here, let that standard be freedom to pick one's own clothes.

The standard of the freedom to pick one's own clothes is not an objective standard, it varies from individual to individual. My problem is that she expects society to conform to her individual standard, yet she doesn't believe in objective standards. It's behavioral inconsistency.

[Kral]

I don't think that this issue should be approached as a religious one or even one dealing with homosexuality.

This issue only involves school dress code requirements. The person in question is female and the school policy is that all females must wear a dress for the yearbook photo.

The right to wear what you want does not apply within school as freedom of speech is in fact restricted there by previous judicial rulings.

The student's chosen sexual orientation does not change the dress code. The student is female. Females are required to wear dresses for the photo. If that is an issue it should be resolved for the future through the school board not through the judicial system.

[McCulloch]

The student's chosen sexual orientation does not change the dress code. The student is female. Females are required to wear dresses for the photo. If that is an issue it should be resolved for the future through the school board not through the judicial system.

That is a bit like saying that gays have the same right to marry someone of the other sex as anyone else. I believe that what the justice system is being asked to review is whether a dress code that applies unequally to males and females should be considered discriminatory. I believe that it is. If tops are required, for example, then everyone should be required to wear a top. If the dress code requires pants, skirt or dress, then if I choose to wear a skirt I should be allowed.

[Goat]

The student's chosen sexual orientation does not change the dress code. The student is female. Females are required to wear dresses for the photo. If that is an issue it should be resolved for the future through the school board not through the judicial system.

That is a bit like saying that gays have the same right to marry someone of the other sex as anyone else. I believe that what the justice system is being asked to review is whether a dress code that applies unequally to males and females should be considered discriminatory. I believe that it is. If tops are required, for example, then everyone should be required to wear a top. If the dress code requires pants, skirt or dress, then if I choose to wear a skirt I should be allowed.

In New York State, the law that says women must have a top on in places that men can go topless has been declared unconstitutional (Since 1992), as long as there is now 'lewd' behavior. Except for a few minor incidences over the next few years after that, the custom of women not going bare chest has remained, long after the laws prohibiting it have been removed. Custom far outweighed law in this matter.

[McCulloch]

In New York State, the law that says women must have a top on in places that men can go topless has been declared unconstitutional (Since 1992), as long as there is now 'lewd' behavior. Except for a few minor incidences over the next few years after that, the custom of women not going bare chest has remained, long after the laws prohibiting it have been removed. Custom far outweighed law in this matter.

In Ontario, there has been a similar court ruling which reached the highest court in 1996. As in the case of our neighbours south of the Great Lakes, custom outweighs laws in this matter, just as it should be in the case being debated. The gender inequality in the dress code for this school function should be a matter of custom not law.

[Kral]

It is a matter of custom and of school regulation.

The simple resolution is for the student to adhere to the custom and requirements of the school in this matter as it does not actually make any requirement of the student's sexuality but only of the student's attire.

Should she also be allowed to use the Male Locker Room facility because otherwise it is discrimination? It is a similar situation. The regulations say that she cannot and the only reason would be that she is female.

[Miles]

It is a matter of custom and of school regulation.

I agree.

The simple resolution is for the school to alter the custom and requirements of the school in this matter as it does not actually make any sense to say one student may wear attire X and another student may not, simply because of a happenstance of birth.

Should she also be denied wearing male underwear because otherwise it is goes against custom? It is a similar situation. The regulations say that she cannot and the only reason would be that she is female, which is hardly rational or just.