All Louisiana high school student Claudetteia Love wanted to do was wear a tuxedo to her prom.
But it looks like the openly gay 17-year-old wont even attend now that Carroll High School administrators said she can't wear a tux because girls are required to wear dresses, The News Star reported.
Love said she would rather miss the landmark high school event than be forced to adhere to the school's ban, which the honor student believes is more about her sexual orientation than her not wearing a dress.
"It hurt my feelings," Love told the New York Daily News. "The four years I've been there I've always dressed the way I dress. I've always been open. And no one has had a problem with it. But when the time comes around to celebrate everything I accomplished in high school - I was told that I couldn't do it because of the way I am."
School officials said the issue has nothing to do with who Love is and everything to do with the dress code, Principal Patrick Taylor reportedly told Love's mother, Geraldine Jackson.
"He said that the faculty that is working the prom told him they weren't going to work the prom if (girls) were going to wear tuxes," Jackson told The News Star.
"That's his exact words. 'Girls wear dresses and boys wear tuxes, and that's the way it is.' "
Love, part of the school's medical magnet program for high achieving students, planned on attending her April 24 prom with a group of friends.
But now that she isn't going, her friends have also decided to skip the prom to show their support. A petition has been started among her fellow seniors to change the school's policy, Love told the newspaper.
Her story caught the attention of Rodney McFarland, president of the Monroe City School Board, who announced he is reaching out to Taylor to reconsider the no-tux rule.
Love is all set to attend Jackson State University on a full scholarship. But she worries what happened to her will happen to the next girl who is shamed for daring to be herself.
"There are other girls in lower grades than me, and I want for them when they come up to not to have to feel like they aren't appreciated," she told The News Star. "I don't want them to feel like they are less of a person because people don't accept them."
