Lesbian Student Allowed to Wear Tux

Lebanon, Indiana school Superintendent said the district would back down from its biased policy of forcing students to wear "gender-based" formal attire at prom. The Indianapolis Star reported yesterday an unidentified 17-year-old lesbian senior would be allowed to wear a tuxedo to prom after the school board changed its policy in a meeting last night. 

From the Indianapolis Star:

"School policy for this year's prom will be that all attendees shall wear appropriate formal attire with no gender-based attire requirements imposed," the statement [from Superintendent Robert L Taylor] said. "Female students will be permitted to wear tuxedos if they choose."

Ken Falk, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and the student's attorney, said his client is pleased with the decision and will attend the April prom in a tuxedo.

"We think this is what the decision should have been all along, that there was never any justification for the policy," Falk said. "It's unfortunate that we had to go this far."

Indiana is making progress. Similar cases involving biologically male students wearing dresses to prom have had mixed results. One district received a court order to allow a student to wear a dress in 1999. Another case from 2006 involving a transgendered student is still pending.