Indiana High School Relents: Girl Will Wear Tux

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Mar 15, 2009 8:30PM

Still image from Mean Girls/Paramount

The female Indiana high school student who wants to wear a tuxedo to her prom will be allowed to do so. The 17-year-old student had filed a lawsuit against the school, and she said she is a lesbian and doesn't wear dresses because they represent a sexual identity she rejects. On Friday the superintendent of the Lebanon school system released a press release that said

School policy for this year's prom will be that all attendees shall wear appropriate formal attire with no gender-based attire requirements imposed. Female students will be permitted to wear tuxedos if they choose.

The principal at the high school, located northwest of Indianapolis, had said that there is a special dress code for the prom that requires female students to wear a formal gown, and school officials had said they wanted to work out a deal that would permit her to wear a pantsuit. The ACLU --which filed the claim on her behalf--said that the gender-based policy violates federal law because the school receives federal funding and because it violates her right of expression.

This is a much more civil ending to the story than what happened to a male Gary high school student last year that tried to wear a dress to prom. The principal "stretched her arms across the door of the senior prom, blocking Logan's entrance because Logan was wearing a dress." [The Indy Channel]