article: A gay student in Louisiana says she is going to skip her senior prom because the school principal won't let her wear a tuxedo. Claudetteia Love, a senior and one of the top students at Carroll High in Monroe, said she was planning on going to the prom without a date and with a group of friends, but now she and her friends are staying away. Though a petition was started and signed by members of the senior class to allow Love to wear a tuxedo, it was not acted on by school faculty. Carroll High School senior Claudetteia Love will skip her senior prom after her Monroe, Louisiana, school's principal told her that she would not be allowed to wear a tuxedo . Principal Patrick Taylor told Love that the decision was dress-code related and that she shouldn't take it personally . 'I told my mom, "They're using me". They put me in all these honors and advanced placement classes so I can take all of these tests and get good grades and better the school, but when it's time for me to celebrate the fact that I've accomplished what I need to accomplish and I'm about to graduate, they don't want to let me do it the way I want to,'' she told The News-Star. The decision is part of the school's dress code and not anything personal, principal Patrick Taylor told The News-Star. Love's mother, Geraldine Jackson, said Taylor told her faculty members said they wouldn't supervise the April 24 prom if girls wore tuxes. 'That's his exact words. "Girls wear dresses and boys wear tuxes, and that's the way it is,"' she said. Love was going to go to the prom with a group of friends and no date, but all of them have decided not to go after Taylor made his rule. Love's mother said that she believes Taylor is 'taking his values and throwing them' on her daughter because she's a lesbian . 'I feel like he's taking his values and throwing them on my daughter because of what her preference is and what she represents,' Jackson added. Monroe City School Board President Rodney McFarland said Taylor's decision was discriminatory and he disagreed with it. 'Banning her from her prom just because of what she wants to wear - that's discrimination,' he said. 'As far as I know there is no Monroe City School Board policy saying what someone has to wear to attend the prom. You can't just go making up policies.' He said he planned to ask Superintendent Brent Vidrine to talk to Taylor. Love said that though she will skip her own prom, she hopes that she can make a difference for younger students. Love is a top-performing student at Carroll High School. She will represent the school at an annual scholars' banquet and has a full scholarship to Jackson State University once she graduates . '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 accepted,' Love said. She added: 'I don't want them to feel like they are less of a person because people don't accept them. 'There are people in the world that won't accept you but they don't have to be so judgmental and make you feel like you're less of a person and that you shouldn't express yourself.' Last year, Love was one of a group of students presented in a Monroe City School Board meeting as part of the school's high achieving medical magnet program. She will represent the school at the annual Scholars' Banquet, an event for the top students in Ouachita Parish, and has a full scholarship to Jackson State University.
highlights: Claudetteia Love was planned to go to prom dateless with a group of friends .
  Carroll High School principal Patrick Taylor said the decision was part of the Monroe, Louisiana school's dress code .
  Monroe City School Board President says Taylor is being discriminatory .
  Love is a top student and has a full scholarship to Jackson State University .
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