ACLU Takes on Yearbook Case

Following the momentum of the Constance McMillen case, the American Civil Liberties Union and its Mississippi affiliate will represent another Mississippi teen, who will sue her former high school for excluding her from her senior yearbook.

The Wesson Attendance Center in Wesson, Miss., did not publish Ceara Sturgis's name or photograph because she wore a tuxedo in her senior portrait, according to The Clarion Ledgerof Jackson. Female students at Wesson were required to wear a drape, which resembles a dress, in their photograph. Sturgis opted for a tuxedo because the drape made her feel uncomfortable.

The yearbook photographer took the student's photo, but the Wesson principal later told Sturgis she would not be included in her yearbook.

"I went to school with my classmates my whole life, and it hurts that I'm not included in my senior yearbook as part of my graduating class," said Sturgis, in a press statement. "I never thought that my school would punish me just for being who I am."

The ACLU will argue that the school violated Sturgis's right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and violated Title IX of the federal civil rights law by engaging in sex discrimination.

Earlier this year, Mississippi teen Constance McMillen received $35,000 after her school refused to let her bring her girlfriend to prom and told McMillen she could not wear a tuxedo to the event.