Who Says Girls Have to Wear Dresses?

I just stumbled upon this article over at the fabulous blog Jezebel that I had to share. It seems a 17-year-old girl in Indiana was planning to wear a tuxedo to her prom until her principle told her the dress code forbids girls from wearing tuxedos and that she had to wear a gown instead.

Seriously?

Thankfully, the girl did what any smart girl would do…she stood up for her rights! The girl (her name hasn’t been made public) who happens to be gay, hooked up with the ACLU and sued the school, saying that she doesn’t wear dresses because she feels they indicate a sexual identity that isn’t her own. According to the ACLU, it’s a free-speech issue, since wearing a tuxedo is essentially the same thing as making an affirmative statement about her sexual orientation.

On top of that, the ACLU said that any policy allowing only boys to wear tuxes to a prom is a violation of Title IX, which prohibits schools from discriminating along gender lines.

The good news here? The school reversed their policy only four days after the suit was filed, saying, “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.”

At least this story’s got a happy ending!