Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
If you thought the Constance McMillen story was bad, another Mississippi school has simply scrubbed the very existence of a lesbian student out of the school yearbook.
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."
They didn't just refuse to post the picture, they didn't even list her name as one of the graduating seniors. And the school is refusing to budge:
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."It's like she's nobody there, even though she's gone to school there for 12 years," Rodriguez said. "They mentioned none of her accolades, even though she's one of the smartest students there with wonderful grades. They've got kids in the book that have been busted for drugs. There's even a picture of one of the seniors who dropped out of school.
"I don't get it. Ceara is a top student. Why would they do this to her?"
Copiah County School District spokeswoman Martha Traxler refused to comment on the school's reason for excluding Sturgis from the senior page, and referred all questions to Copiah County attorney Olen Bryant, Jr. Bryant did not immediately return calls.
Last year, the school gave no indication that it would withhold Sturgis' information, but said it had legal justification to not rub Sturgis' photo.
"We have had our legal counsel research the validity of the position of the School District on this matter," Copiah County Superintendent Ricky 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. It is the desire of the Copiah County School District to inform, first, the patrons of the district, and second, all other interested parties, that its position is not arbitrary, capricious or unlawful, but is based upon sound educational policy and legal precedent."
The school district's attorney is a moron. The case they referred to is one in which the school actually settled the case and agreed to change their policy.
Politics
Comments
he school district's attorney is a moron. The case they referred to is one in which the school actually settled the case and agreed to change their policy.
Sounds like a good candidate to join the Orly Taitz law firm.
Posted by: SLC | April 29, 2010 9:45 AM
Hmmm, let's replace Lesbian for the fun of it...
Nah, no discrimination here... nothing to see folks, move along ... move along...
Posted by: dogmeatib | April 29, 2010 9:49 AM
So what kind of legal remedies can apply? Obviously they could make the school reprint the yearbook, but all the students already have their sans Ceara books, and you can't make them get new ones. So I guess that leaves, oh, money! And hopefully a big enough bucketful of money to a) make that school district and others recognize that kind of shitty behavior is a losing game, b) enough to get the citizens pissed off at the school board for wasting tax dollars, and c) enough to enable Ceara to get out of that shithole forever.
If Lincoln had a crystal ball, do you think he might have just said, "except for Mississippi."
Posted by: James Hanley | April 29, 2010 9:57 AM
What is it with these attorneys that school districts hire?
I know that schools don't have a ton of money to spend, but you would think they would be able to find some decent representation. The attorney in the McMillen case was present in the room when the school and the parents decided to do the end around of the judges decision. The clown in this case is going off a case that was settled against his position.
Posted by: Chilidog | April 29, 2010 10:03 AM
That ranking of priorities is going to show up more and more as an argument in such cases - "we've got the right to discriminate because the majority of people in our (red)neck of the (back)woods wants us to".
Will they really try to argue in court that merely acknowledging the existence of GLBT people has a detrimental effect on education? (We all know that that's what they're thinking, but writing it in a legal brief takes a whole different level of delusion.)
Posted by: Phillip IV | April 29, 2010 10:15 AM
So much hatred and bigotry. It's just mind-boggling. It breaks my heart for that young girl.
Posted by: appellategirl | April 29, 2010 10:16 AM
Had the school simply not run the photo, but kept her name, they might have had a leg to stand on. The courts has been all over the place on dress code policies. However, it looks like they scrubbed her name from the yearbook in retaliation for her daring to object to the policy. If so, this puts the school well into unconstitutional territory.
Posted by: Abby Normal | April 29, 2010 10:19 AM
Lady, this is America. What the Hell does scholarship have to do with high school?
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | April 29, 2010 10:20 AM
...after a long battle with school officials to include a photo of her daughter wearing a tuxedo in the school's 2010 yearbook.
Not even the dress code excuse makes any sense. From the waist up what are the significant differences between a tux and a ladies jacket + blouse, really? The bow tie? Cumberbund?
I'm also wierded out by the whole attorney-moron thing. I can't believe an attorney no matter how incompetent would review a case a (different) school district lost and cite it as a reason they'll win in court. The only rational explanation I can think of is that the administration is thinking tactically: they don't care about litigation cost or whether they'll eventually win or lose in court. They only care about keeping this individual out of this yearbook. By fighting it in court, just based on timetable they'll win that battle (but lose the war).
Posted by: eric | April 29, 2010 10:28 AM
Oh, and as Ed mentioned Constance McMillen at the top of the story I thought I'd let folks know her troubles aren't over either. The Westboro Baptist Church has announced they'll be picketing her graduation.
I hope the community that persecuted her takes a good long look at who their allies are and wake up to the hate they’re a part of spreading. But I’m guessing they’ll just heap more blame on McMillen for it somehow.
Posted by: Abby Normal | April 29, 2010 10:33 AM
cripes. I'd consider it a victory not to be in the yearbook. I told the resume padding photogwimps to buzz off. Worked for me. Stuff's lame and internet makes it redundant. Other stuff to worry about.
Posted by: asdf | April 29, 2010 10:39 AM
Erasing people when they fall out of favor sounds like the Soviet Union.
Posted by: Bill in NC | April 29, 2010 10:43 AM
A clarification. In the case: “Youngblood v. School Board of Hillsborough County,” the federal court ruled that a female student's desire to wear male clothing for her senior portrait was not expressive conduct. The case was appealed, and during the appeal process, the district settled with the plaintiff. So the original decsision still stands.
Posted by: Chilidog | April 29, 2010 10:47 AM
Bill@12, that was my reaction; Stalinism lives!
I wish there was a way to contact this young woman and assure her that the grownup world is not exclusively populated by tom-fool no-necked asshats.
Posted by: Shay | April 29, 2010 10:54 AM
Not even the dress code excuse makes any sense. From the waist up what are the significant differences between a tux and a ladies jacket + blouse, really? The bow tie? Cumberbund?
Seconded. What is everyone else in the yearbook wearing? I hope that next year there are a number of heterosexual individuals who wear something considered clothing for the opposite sex. Considering how useless the yearbooks are two days after you get it in your hands, it would be better to show the kids 30-40 years later how you stood up for someone else.
Posted by: Odie | April 29, 2010 10:59 AM
What consistently amazes me about this school administration is the pure pettiness. At this point, I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that school officials were opening her locker so they could throw her stuff on the floor.
Posted by: ethanol | April 29, 2010 11:10 AM
What do you want to bet that the yearbook also has some "funny-ha-ha" photos of jocks dressed in drag as a joke. Cross-dressing in the yearbook is fine and dandy as long as you are proudly heterosexual and mocking anyone who isn't.
Posted by: appellategirl | April 29, 2010 11:24 AM
All I have to say is: Congratulations stupid Mississippi school people, you may have just shaped the life goals of the next great equal-right activist to come. Thank you for giving her an understanding of why exactly she should fight to secure equal rights for others like her. I hope she goes on and achieves a great victory for equal rights and I hope you can appreciate that you made it possible...
Posted by: hepa3 | April 29, 2010 11:26 AM
Translation of asdf's comment: the student is stupid to desire something I didn't want.
Posted by: Squiddhartha | April 29, 2010 11:32 AM
What exactly is the constitutional reason we can't just hand these people bottles of bleach with the "do not ingest" portion of the label scratched off?
Posted by: Azkyroth | April 29, 2010 11:33 AM
It may be painful now at the cusp of completion but in a few years she can mount her yearbook next to her diploma as a definitive sign of the hell hole she escaped.
Uh, they will give her a diploma, wont they? Maybe she should accept it in her tux...
Posted by: MikeMa | April 29, 2010 11:34 AM
apellategirl:
Just a few minor changes to your comment.
"Cross-dressing is fine and dandy as long as you are publicly heterosexual and mocking anyone who isn't."
Or, in other words, "Everything I needed to know about self-hating denial I learned in a Missouri HS."
Posted by: democommie | April 29, 2010 11:35 AM
Has anybody looked at the Itawamba Agricultural HS yearbook to see how (if) Constance McMillen was portrayed?
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | April 29, 2010 11:47 AM
I wonder, how would the school have reacted to a heterosexual female student who just liked to wear masculine clothing? Or would they just assume she was gay(as is anyone who isn't totally gender-conforming)?
It would be great if lots of female students donned tuxedos as a protest to show solidarity with Sturgis, but somehow I doubt it will happen.
Posted by: Emily | April 29, 2010 11:49 AM
Chilidog @13: A clarification. In the case: “Youngblood v. School Board of Hillsborough County,” the federal court ruled that a female student's desire to wear male clothing for her senior portrait was not expressive conduct. The case was appealed, and during the appeal process, the district settled with the plaintiff. So the original decsision still stands.
Problem for the school: there are women's tuxedos. Just google the phrase, you'll get a whole bunch of shopping web sites wanting to sell them to you. Its going to be hard for the school to argue that a tux is 'male clothing' when every corporation from Marie Claire to JCPenny says otherwise.
Then there's the problem of making a legal connection between the right and the action. "Your honor, because we had the right to tell her not to wear a tux, we erased all mention of her."
Well, on a positive note, the case will probably be short.
Posted by: eric | April 29, 2010 12:16 PM
Not bad at all. Why do girls insist they wear men's clothing? Why do boys insist on wearing a woman's clothes? What the hell is wrong with these people.
The reason she/he/it was erased is becuase the school couldn't figure out if what to do with a half woman/half man picture. That issue has never arisen before in a high school in Mississippi. Up until a few years ago most Mississippi high school were normal. We didn't have the epedimic of gayism running rampant all over the place.
Act normal and you will be treated normal. Act like a nut and be cracked like one.
Posted by: Liberty man | April 29, 2010 1:20 PM
The Ministry of Truth has turned Ceara into an un-person.
Somebody needs to tell these yokels that 1984 was not supposed to be a "how-to" book!
~David D.G.
Posted by: David D.G. | April 29, 2010 1:20 PM
Liberty "nut-to-be-cracked" man, #26: Act like a nut and be cracked like one.
Careful what you wish for.
Posted by: Chiroptera | April 29, 2010 1:22 PM
If only we could erase Mississippi and the rest of the righteous Christofascists fro the US.
Posted by: Rob Jase | April 29, 2010 1:33 PM
Liberty,
So normal in Mississippi is a bigoted, intolerant asshole? Sorry, I'll pass.
Posted by: MikeMa | April 29, 2010 1:39 PM
Liberty man:
Why in the world do you care what someone else does that doesn't affect you in any way? What the hell is wrong with you? What gives you the right to judge other people choices.
My advice to you:
1. Mind your own business.
2. Learn to spell 'epidemic'.
3. Go fuck yourself, cracker.
Posted by: Budbear | April 29, 2010 1:44 PM
I would like to second Budbear's self-fucking motion, and tack on a rider of self-defenestration as well.
Posted by: Captain Mike | April 29, 2010 1:52 PM
THIS must be an example of that fine heterosexual morality we keep hearing so many of them scream their hateful little heads off about!
This is Heterosexual douchebaggery at its finest!
Morality indeed, bigots.
Posted by: Bill | April 29, 2010 2:09 PM
Liberty man has no idea what his moniker actually means. Get a dictionary.
Posted by: Don | April 29, 2010 2:15 PM
Hey Liberty man, I'm female and wearing trousers! And writing this from, gasp, a college computer lab, while I wait to head to class for an edumacation in something that doesn't amount to staying in the kitchen! In the more civilized parts of the world, this is considered within the bounds of normal, but thankfully people like you aren't.
Posted by: Emily | April 29, 2010 2:18 PM
"Up until a few years ago most Mississippi high school were normal."
...and segregated.
Posted by: Bill in NC | April 29, 2010 2:55 PM
Poe on Liberty Man.
Posted by: Abstruse | April 29, 2010 3:18 PM
Well then, let me help the school out. You print the picture in its appropriate place among the rest of the pictures of the student body.
There. That wasn't so hard, was it?
Posted by: D'oh! | April 29, 2010 3:21 PM
Liberty man: The reason she/he/it was erased is becuase the school couldn't figure out if what to do with a half woman/half man picture.
You might be on to something...maybe they erased her name because no one in the school administration could spell 'Rodriguez.'
Posted by: eric | April 29, 2010 3:24 PM
You're assuming they consider the acts of the Phelps clan to be blameworthy.
Posted by: MartinM | April 29, 2010 3:25 PM
Oops! That should read "Ceara" not Rodriguez. Sadness, I ruined my own sarcasm :(
Posted by: eric | April 29, 2010 3:26 PM
epedimic of gayism running rampant all over the place.
Where is this place? I need to go there!
Posted by: Owen | April 29, 2010 3:26 PM
Libertyman @ 26,Given your position is the exact opposite of liberty, I recommend learning how to use HTML strikeout tags as I've done above. That is if you possess an iota of honesty which I'm betting you do not.
Here's a link to help: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_styles.asp
Posted by: Michael Heath | April 29, 2010 3:36 PM
While recent controversies over the length of boys' hair in Texas public schools have made it clear to me that there are still people around who think that androgyny is an issue of moral concern, I doubt "Liberty Man" is one of them. Sounds like a Poe. So stereotypically dinosaur-like that I'd expect him to roar and wave his little arms around.
Posted by: Gretchen | April 29, 2010 4:15 PM
@eric 39 and 41: You might be on to something...maybe they erased her name because no one in the school administration could spell 'Rodriguez.'
Actually, I think that works just as well as the "Ceara" version.
Posted by: Emily | April 29, 2010 4:19 PM
Liberty man #26:
Posted by: Zmidponk | April 29, 2010 4:33 PM
I think I saw them live they were on after Rev Pino.
Posted by: Matty | April 29, 2010 4:39 PM
I'm a straight male, and I think a woman in a tux looks hawt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Smoking
There are some very NSFW Helmut Newton photos that support my opinion.
Posted by: futuremonkey | April 29, 2010 4:44 PM
I'm pretty convinced that Liberty Man is both a sock puppet and a Poe. The use of the word "gayism" is a pretty strong clue.
The charge of sock puppetry is based on the fact that I've worked with Liberty Man quite a few times over the years, and he's a stalwart champion of justice. And I'm pretty sure he's gay. His sidekick (Vigilance Lad) certainly seems to think so.
Posted by: Captain Mike | April 29, 2010 4:59 PM
I'd just like to note that Mississippi is the only state other than Nevada and New Mexico to have nuclear bombs detonated within its bordered.
Incidentally, 40 years later a bunch of possibly mutant retards are determining our morality and running our school system. The Hills Have Eyes may have just focused on the wrong state.
I'm born and raised in Mississippi, and I have to say, Liberty Man pretty much perfectly encapsulates the bigoted borderline-retarded mindset that these people have. It's not quite the "American, fuck yeah!" attitude you see in Sarah Palin, it's even worse. It's more of, "Go back where you came from!" attitude. They don't want anyone different around them. They're racist, sexist, homophobic, bigots. If you aren't a white male protestant Christian, you are inferior.
And they tend to have the money here in part because they're the only people in the area that the previous generation of white male protestant Christians would do business with, giving them a major leg up over everyone else when it came time to build a career or start a business. It's a self-perpetuating cycle of bigoted assholes.
Posted by: LtStorm | April 29, 2010 5:19 PM
Huh, you want him to throw himself out of a window?
Well at least that's less technically difficult than copulating with himself.
I say condemn him to live in Mississippi with himself. I’d probably throw myself out of a (12th story) window if I had to live there with him.
Posted by: Lance | April 29, 2010 5:40 PM
Squiddhartha "Translation of asdf's comment: the student is stupid to desire something I didn't want."
To be fair, you don't know what asdf looked like in high school.
Posted by: Modusoperandi | April 29, 2010 6:21 PM
As a teacher in Mississippi I've been following this closely. This case is what finally made me join the ACLU instead of yet again putting it off. I hope that the ACLU sues this town into oblivion. This poor girl has put up with this bullying far more than she should have ever had to. I wish her the best and am impressed with the maturity and loftiness with which she has handled this ugly business.
Posted by: JohnS | April 29, 2010 6:27 PM
"I'd just like to note that Mississippi is the only state other than Nevada and New Mexico to have nuclear bombs detonated within its bordered."
Actually, both Colorado and Alaska share in that distinction.
Posted by: Brian Prince | April 29, 2010 6:30 PM
Is there really such thing as "male" wear these days? Pretty much anything that's sold as "men's" clothing, I've seen women wearing at some point.
Pants? Done. T-shirts? Done. Tux? Done. Suit? Done. Polo shirts? Done. Button-ups? Done. I don't think I'm missing much here...
So what we have are female clothes, and unisex clothes... and that's about it.
Posted by: Hayate Yagami | April 29, 2010 6:50 PM
@ Hayate Yagami,
You have apparently as of now been spared knowledge of the travesties (in that they reflect our depressingly effemophobic society) known as "manpris," "mantyhose," "man-purses," and the like.
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | April 29, 2010 7:05 PM
...And you have Sarah Palin and Colorado Springs' descent into a libertarian hell.
Yeah.
Posted by: LtStorm | April 29, 2010 7:14 PM
It looks like the school actually did have her pictured in other sections, clubs, sports, etc. Doesn't make them less bigoted assholes, but they didn't completely scrub her from the yearbook.
There was a similar thing done when I was in high school. A pregnant girl, graduated in the top 5 in the class, was a member of numerous clubs, etc. She was listed in all sorts of clubs, etc., but was VERY pregnant when the normal senior pictures were taken so her picture was "accidently" left out. She was there in the clubs, etc., just somehow not in the senior section.
Posted by: dogmeatib | April 29, 2010 7:52 PM
Just a reminder that some of us Mississippians are horrified at this and do not support the anti-gay, pro-theocracy tendencies of our neighbors.
Posted by: Skepticat | April 29, 2010 9:32 PM
Sadie @56... don't forget the mansiere... aka the "bro"... for tyin' down them manboobs!
Ummm... wait a minute... go ahead and forget 'em now...
(must dip brain in acid to remove mental visual)
Posted by: doctorgoo | April 29, 2010 9:46 PM
"Here's to the land
They tore out the heart of;
Mississippi go find yourself
Some other country to be part of.
Mississippi is a sovereign state
With sovereign dogs
And sovereign hate.
They say, 'Its communists like you
that freed the slaves.'
And they're right."
Phil Ochs
Posted by: NJOsprey | April 30, 2010 12:37 AM
Poor girl - I hope she can get away from that bigoted world that stalks her. There are civilized people pretty much anywhere on the planet, even though they're hard to find at times.
Posted by: MadScientist | April 30, 2010 8:49 AM
This made me so very angry that I really couldn't come up with a coherent response.
I am not all that keen on money being taken from schools for lawsuits, but if any cases deserve to hit schools fucking hard, this would be one. There is really no way to remedy this overtly - the book has already been distributed. Maybe if this hurts the school and hurts it badly, it will ensure that the next gay student doesn't get screwed like this - both there and in other schools.
I'm thinking that covering the cost of her undergrad would go a long ways towards mitigating the damage.
Posted by: DuWayne | April 30, 2010 11:48 AM
I sure hope this case doesn't get to the SCOTUS. With the (un)holy quintuplet of Alito, Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, and Scalia who knows what kind of bonehead decision might come down.
Posted by: Steve S | April 30, 2010 3:09 PM
We should realize that Mississippi is the most religious state in the nation which must remind us all, as if we don't already know it, that religion teaches intolerance and hate.
Posted by: Ron | May 5, 2010 8:00 PM