Ill. Senior Allowed to Wear Tux to Prom

An Illinois high school student who plans to become a civil rights attorney has won her first victory -- the right to attend her prom in a tuxedo.

Belinda Sanchez, a senior at Proviso East High School in Maywood, Ill., who has been out as a lesbian since freshman year, was told by her principal that she couldn't show up to the prom in tux and would have to wear a dress. Sanchez said she was "shocked" by the decree because the school has an active gay-straight alliance and has been supportive of LGBT students.

Not dismayed, Sanchez contacted the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which sent a letter supporting the young woman to the school district.

"This sends a negative message to other students that they can't express who they are," said John Knight, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Project at the ACLU, to the Chicago Tribune. "It's a First Amendment right, a free speech right, and that includes her right to send a message through wearing male clothing that she doesn't think women should be restricted to traditional female clothing."

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