School Doesn't Include Gay Student's Photo In Yearbook

[DanGarion]

Since I know we love to talk about these ones.

Jackson Free Press: Jackson, Mississippi - Noise - School Cuts Gay Student Photo from Yearbook

I've only included the first couple paragraphs click the link for the rest.

When Veronica Rodriguez opened Wesson Attendance Center's Yearbook on Friday, she didn't find a trace of her lesbian daughter Ceara Sturgis after a long battle with school officials to include a photo of her daughter wearing a tuxedo in the school's 2010 yearbook.
"They didn't even put her name in it," Sturgis' mother Veronica Rodriguez said. "I was so furious when she told me about it. Ceara started crying and I told her to suck it up. Is that not pathetic for them to do that? Yet again, they have crapped on her and made her feel alienated."

Sturgis and her mother commissioned the Mississippi ACLU to protest officials' October 2009 decision not to allow Sturgis' photo to appear in the senior yearbook because she chose to wear a tuxedo instead of a dress.

The ACLU wrote an October letter demanding officials use Sturgis' submitted photo in the yearbook, but Copiah County School District officials refused. Rodriguez said she expected the yearbook to at least contain a reference to her daughter on the senior page. What she discovered on Friday, when the yearbook came in, was that the school had refused to acknowledge her entirely.

High School website Wesson Attendance Center
Links to administrations email addresses... Wesson Attendance Center Administration

[panerd]

It so stupid on both parts. You can be gay and not have to cross dress in the yearbook. And why bring on the controversy of doing this if you are the school?

[SackAttack]

Thing is, it isn't just the tux-at-the-prom photo they're alleged to have omitted. It's any mention at all of the student in the yearbook.

That's the part that could cause 'em some problems down the road, although they claim that their position has been litigated in the past, upheld, and that they're in the right to omit her entirely both legally and educationally. It's weird.

[JonInMiddleGA]

IIRC, schools have had dress policies for yearbook photos for years, at least dating back to the 80's so I imagine this has been litigated more than once in the past.

[Easy Mac]

I don't know about your high school, but unless you were popular, the only pic you get in the yearbook is the class pic. There were tins of kids at my school who got one or no pics in the yearbook.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

IIRC, schools have had dress policies for yearbook photos for years, at least dating back to the 80's so I imagine this has been litigated more than once in the past.

But what makes a girl have to wear a dress, and a boy a tux? Shouldn't they have a choice?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

I don't know about your high school, but unless you were popular, the only pic you get in the yearbook is the class pic. There were tins of kids at my school who got one or no pics in the yearbook.

Very true. Popular, on involved in activities got you in the book besides the class picture.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

I don't know about your high school, but unless you were popular, the only pic you get in the yearbook is the class pic. There were tins of kids at my school who got one or no pics in the yearbook.

I think they even omitted her class pic and name though - which is where they could be on shaky ground i suppose.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

But what makes a girl have to wear a dress, and a boy a tux? Shouldn't they have a choice?

No, not if it's considered disruptive. I mean, if she can wear a tux & he can wear a dress, why can't I wear a leather jacket or one of those Miami Vice suits (or whatever the hell passed for fashion back in the Dark Ages when I was in HS?)

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

I don't know about your high school, but unless you were popular, the only pic you get in the yearbook is the class pic. There were tins of kids at my school who got one or no pics in the yearbook.

Are you forgetting the "regular" photo?

Or (and the article wasn't terribly clear here) for this particular school, is the "prom" photo what they use for the "regular" shot? I never went to prom, but I've got a headshot in all four of my yearbooks, plus, yeah, activities/clubs/honor societies/etc.

[SackAttack]

Dola,

Went back and read the article again. Maybe I'm mixing this up with the "other" brouhaha down South in the last couple weeks and just conflating the two.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

No, not if it's considered disruptive. I mean, if she can wear a tux & he can wear a dress, why can't I wear a leather jacket or one of those Miami Vice suits (or whatever the hell passed for fashion back in the Dark Ages when I was in HS?)

What is disruptive about any of that stuff? I could understand if the shirt was covered in cat piss or something, but I think the only time I was disrupted in school was when a hot chick wore something slutty.

[miked]

Duh, it's Mississippi folks. We should be happy they can spell yearbook without 2M in federal subsidies.

[thesloppy]

I looked totally gay in all of my yearbook photos, and was never given the choice of whether I wanted to include them or not.

[duckman]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I looked totally gay in all of my yearbook photos, and was never given the choice of whether I wanted to include them or not.

/thread

[Noop]

Meh.

[stevew]

there probably isn't a regular photo. Senior photo is the regular one.

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

ceara_sturgis.jpg

never woulda guessed.

i am glad to see the comb over has finally caught on though.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by stevew

there probably isn't a regular photo. Senior photo is the regular one.

+1

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I looked totally gay in all of my yearbook photos, and was never given the choice of whether I wanted to include them or not.

this is epic

[thesloppy]

HELLO SAILOR

[sterlingice]

More importantly, who names their kid Ceara?

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I looked totally gay in all of my yearbook photos, and was never given the choice of whether I wanted to include them or not.

SI

[sterlingice]

Oh, and I am *shocked*, positively shocked that this story is from the deep south!

SI

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I have only one question: What is a lesbian?

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by M GO BLUE!!!

I have only one question: What is a lesbian?

I think they are also called actors, but, I'm not 100% sure on that.

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

Originally Posted by M GO BLUE!!!

I have only one question: What is a lesbian?

2nd overall pick by the celtics in 86. died of a cocaine overdose.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by M GO BLUE!!!

I have only one question: What is a lesbian?

They are like men, but women.

[Izulde]

Hmm, I'm not gay, but Arkansas didn't put me in its yearbook, even though I went to the photo-sitting last year.

I was quite annoyed when I saw I wasn't in there. It's like, why the fuck did I waste my time then?

[miked]

I love how they researched the legality of it before doing it, and feel comfortable because of a precedent in a previously settled out of court case.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

I think they even omitted her class pic and name though - which is where they could be on shaky ground i suppose.

That's what i'm saying. When I was in school (when you used to have to walk up hill both ways), plenty of kids would not have their normal photo taken, so as far as the yearbook was concerned, they didn't exist.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Are you forgetting the "regular" photo?

Or (and the article wasn't terribly clear here) for this particular school, is the "prom" photo what they use for the "regular" shot? I never went to prom, but I've got a headshot in all four of my yearbooks, plus, yeah, activities/clubs/honor societies/etc.

I'm thinking the prom photo is just a classier regular photo. They used to just give seniors a fake tuxedo top or dress top at my high school.

I'm pretty sure I skipped out on 1 or 2 yearbook photos in high school, but they still managed to get me in an activity somehow.

Plus, I don't know if its still this way, but back in the day, kids used to make the yearbook (yearbook committees... I hated those tools), so its not entirely crazy that the kid could be omitted from any activities shots, so a lack of headshot would mean the person wouldn't show up at all.

[Toddzilla]

When I was writing for my HS paper, I remember getting into a converstation about what was protected in terms of free speech and what wasn't. The principal of the school remined all of us on the staff, "The Constitution ends where the front door to the school begins." Hrm.

[gstelmack]

Apparently I grew up too soon, I could have sued my high school yearbook staff for putting "Special Olympics" instead of "Academic Olympics" under my activities list.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

When I was writing for my HS paper, I remember getting into a converstation about what was protected in terms of free speech and what wasn't. The principal of the school remined all of us on the staff, "The Constitution ends where the front door to the school begins." Hrm.

The Supreme Court has mostly ruled this way

SI

[lordscarlet]

I believe in our yearbook if you didn't have a picture your name was there with a blank -- I would have to go back and check.

[DaddyTorgo]

was her name there with a blank though? i got the impression from the snippets in this thread (haven't done any more looking tbh) that her name wasn't even in there.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

was her name there with a blank though? i got the impression from the snippets in this thread (haven't done any more looking tbh) that her name wasn't even in there.

That was meant to be my point.

[Logan]

Yeah if someone didn't show up on picture day, their name went in the back at the end of all the other headshots of the class in a "not pictured" graphic.

But really, some of you people would sit down and take the standard headshot and then not be included in the yearbook? Savages. I can't imagine that going down in my schools.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

The Supreme Court has mostly ruled this way

SI

Actually, the seminal court case Tinker v. Des Moines says that students do NOT shed their constitutional rights at the school house doors. Administrators are given some more leeway in restricting speech for certain reasons, but it has to serve a purpose and cannot be arbitrary.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Logan

Yeah if someone didn't show up on picture day, their name went in the back at the end of all the other headshots of the class in a "not pictured" graphic.

But really, some of you people would sit down and take the standard headshot and then not be included in the yearbook? Savages. I can't imagine that going down in my schools.

In.. I believe it was sixth grade? There were three sets of twins (including Wade and I) in our class. Each pair had the pictures reversed with the names.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

More importantly, who names their kid Ceara?

SI

I have a niece named Cierra Jolie.

[I. J. Reilly]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

HELLO SAILOR

So did anyone else skim the thread, come across this picture and think, “What’s the big deal, she’s not even wearing a tux?” Sorry, Slop.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Actually, the seminal court case Tinker v. Des Moines says that students do NOT shed their constitutional rights at the school house doors. Administrators are given some more leeway in restricting speech for certain reasons, but it has to serve a purpose and cannot be arbitrary.

Well, most Constitutional rights don't have much of a bearing on school grounds anyway. The biggies where kids are concerned are search and seizure (administrators have leeway there; maybe not to the extent of strip-searching a kid over aspirin, but having drug dogs sniff the lockers? Yup), free speech (administrators can restrict that), freedom of religion, cruel and unusual punishment.

Restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms vary, seems like. Some schools in California have metal detectors set up to try and keep firearms off the grounds, while a friend of mine who went to high school in North Dakota tells me that during hunting season, the kids would bring their rifles and such and have the principal lock them up in a gun cabinet.

The Fourteenth Amendment is the one that's probably going to be getting litigated up and down in schools over the next few years.

I don't think too many of the others touch on school life at all.

[stevew]

"student's"