Lesbian Cut from High School Yearbook

Mississippi high school senior Ceara Sturgis opened her yearbook last Friday to find that her photo, in which she wears a tuxedo, was not included. In fact, the yearbook did not even mention her name.

Sturgis, a student at Wesson Attendance Center, and her mother, Veronica Rodriguez, fought with help from the ACLU last fall after school officials first rejected the photo of Sturgis in a tuxedo.

According to the Jackson Free Press, "The ACLU wrote an October letter demanding officials use Sturgis' submitted photo in the yearbook, but Copiah County School District officials refused. Rodriguez said she expected the yearbook to at least contain a reference to her daughter on the senior page. What she discovered on Friday, when the yearbook came in, was that the school had refused to acknowledge her entirely."

Sturgis, a popular and academically accomplished student, has attended the school for 12 years.

The Copiah County School District maintains that its decision not to run the photo is based on federal legal precedent. The ACLU would not say whether it planned any legal action based on the school's decision not to run the photo, the Jackson Free Press reported.