Ceara Sturgis’ Tuxedo Yearbook Scandal Has Come To This: A Bikini Photo

Having refused to let Ceara Sturgis appear in her yearbook photo wearing a tuxedo — or even print her name among classmates — the Wesson Attendance Center in Mississippi earned itself a lawsuit from the ACLU. So how is the school responding? By trying to discredit Ceara by proving she sometimes does wear lady-like clothes. Like a bikini. And they’d like the court to see a photo of her wearing one.

Sturgis’ lawsuit against Copiah County School District claims her rights to dress according to her gender identity were violated when she was denied the chance to wear a tux — which is what the boys at the school were wearing for yearbook pictures. But the district’s attorneys think they’ve got a smoking gun to get the federal case dismissed, with a photo of Sturgis in a bikini top. (Sturgis’ lawyers at the ACLU point out she is wearing long shorts on her bottom half.)

Trying to insult Sturgis aside, providing a photo of her wearing a bikini top — which girls wear, not boys! — does not get the school district off the hook, stupids. The school refused to let her wear clothing that she felt comfortable in, according to her gender identity (not the school’s definition of it); the drape, which administrators said she’d have to wear, did not fit Sturgis’ mold. And one photo of her in a bikini top proves nothing except that sometimes Sturgis wears a bikini top. I guess if she truly identified as a boy, she’d go topless? Because I’m sure the Wesson Attendance Center would approve of that during swim practice.