School Board Bans Photo Of Girl Wearing Tux
POSTED: 10:29 pm EST February 24, 2005
GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. -- After a spirited discussion over a photo of a girl wearing a tuxedo at Thursday's Clay County School Board meeting, the principal's decision to ban the picture from the Fleming Island High School yearbook stands.
Kelli Davis, 18, had her senior class photo taken in a tuxedo top and bow-tie outfit provided for boys rather than the gown-like drape and pearls provided for girls. The school's principal decided it could not appear in the yearbook because she didn't follow the dress code.
Kelli, a straight-A student with no discipline problems, is a self-proclaimed lesbian. She said she was uncomfortable to have her chest exposed in the photo.
"Because that's me, you know. That represents me. The drape does not," Davis said. "They're not accepting me, that's the whole reason we're here."
Davis denies it's about her sexual orientation, just about a student not following the rules.
"There's a dress code to follow -- a dress code expected for senior pictures in the yearbook, and she chose not to follow them. It's just that simple," Clay School Superintendent David Owens said.
More than half of the 24 people who addressed the controversy supported using Davis' picture in the yearbook, some applauding after Cindi Davis, the teen's mother, asked the board "What is so offensive about this tiny picture?"
Cindi Davis asked the school board not only to reverse the principal's decision on the photo, but to apologize for firing the yearbook editor, who voiced her support of publishing the photo.
While the board's ruling will keep the photo from appearing with other senior pictures, it will appear in the yearbook. Kelli's parents bought a two-page ad in the back of the book for $700, which will feature the picture.
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