Argument for Yearbook Refusal Unfounded, Says ACLU

ACLU of Mississippi

The ACLU has taken up the fight of lesbian Wesson Attendance Center student Ceara Sturgis, pictured here with her mother, Veronica Rodriguez, who wants her photo in the yearbook.

by Adam Lynch
October 21, 2009

The ACLU of Mississippi says the Copiah County School District was wrong not to allow a lesbian student to place a yearbook photo.

Supervisor Ricky Clopton claimed case law allows the district to refuse the use of a Wesson Attendance Center student photo in the Wesson Attendance Center yearbook. The photo features Ceara Sturgis fully clothed in a tuxedo, which breaks no easily discernible code of decency.

"We have had our legal counsel research the validity of the position of the school district on this matter," Clopton said in the statement. "We are informed by counsel that this exact issue has been litigated in federal court. The decisions of the federal courts completely support the policy of the district in this regard. (The decision) is based upon sound educational policy andlegal precedent."

ACLU legal director Kristy L. Bennett said the district is referring to a 2004 settlement of Youngblood v. School Board of Hillsborough County, Fla. In that case, former Robinson High School principal Kevin McCarthy refused to alter the school's senior photo dress code that required female students to wear a scoop-necked drape, which ruled out the possibility of student Nicole Youngblood posing in a suit.

Youngblood sued the Hillsborough County School Board that year, claiming the rule was discriminatory. The resulting settlement allowed seniors 14 days to appeal the dress code prior to photos.

Bennett said the Youngblood case made no official reference to the student's sexuality, however."There is no mention of a gay rights' issue in that case. It was just a self-expression issue," Bennett said. "Our opinion is that the two cases differ in that there is a gay rights' issue here. ... The law doesn't protect your individuality, but there are First Amendment protections for freedom of expression for gay rights, which is a political statement, as opposed to self-expression."

Wesson principal Ronald Greer did not return calls.