One female high school senior is causing quite a stir at her school because of her choice of attire for her senior yearbook photo. School officials are going so far as to refuse to put the young woman’s photo in the school yearbook because her outfit is so offensive. What did this girl do to create such a controversy? She wore a tuxedo for her school photo. Yes–that’s right, a woman wore a man’s outfit. It’s obscene!

The student, Caera Sturgis, is an openly gay teen, who said that when she tried on “the drape” (a.k.a. that silly v-shaped swath of fabric that female high school seniors are sometimes forced to wear for their Glamour Shots-esque senior photo) but it “looked ridiculous” so she put on a tux, the only other approved outfit choice. The principal at her school, Wesson Attendance Center, is now refusing to put her photo in the school yearbook simply because she chose to wear pants over a piece of velvet fabric. And why should the principal let this girl be seen wearing a man’s costume? No woman has ever been allowed to leave the house wearing a man’s outfit. Never, ever, ever. It’s an abomination!

But, let’s face it, this isn’t just about a woman wearing a traditionally male outfit. I would be surprised if this principal refused to put a photo of a straight, feminine-looking girl in a tux in the school year book. In fact, the school has nothing against boys and girls dressing in drag: the school sponsors a “Backwards Beauty and Beau” pageant where the boys dress as girls and the girls dress as boys. (What a wacky concept!) The principal’s decision to not run Caera’s photo probably has a lot to do with the fact that she is an openly butch lesbian. The principal doesn’t want Caera to feel comfortable in her own skin and he definitely doesn’t want her to feel comfortable with her sexual identity. Denying her entry into the school yearbook, the only real power that he has, is a way for him to practice his oppression of Caera. Homophobic and oppressive heteronormative cultural structures are designed to make gay people feel uncomfortable about their sexuality because these cultures believe that it will make a gay person straight, or “normal,” therefor posing less of a perceived threat to their heterosexual-based society. However, it never works that way, instead it just makes gay people feel worse about themselves and their identity, causing them to have low self-esteem, turn to drugs or alcohol or turn to self-harm. In fact, suicide is the number one cause of death among gay teens. Caera is lucky that she has a supportive mother who is willing to fight the school against their blatant discrimination against her daughter. The principal’s decision to not run Caera’s photo just illustrates the hostile environment that gay teens sometimes grow up in, and these are the adults, guardians and supposed role models we are talking about. Hopefully Caera won’t let this incident dash her surprising wealth of self-confidence.