The ACLU of Tennessee is representing two high school students outed by their high school principal. According to 365gay.com:

A public high school principal who posted the names of two boys on a list of students believed to be couples, revealing their relationship to their parents as well as other students and teachers, violated the students' constitutional right to freedom of association, the American Civil Liberties Union charged Tuesday.

In a letter to school board officials in Memphis, the ACLU demanded that the school reprimand the principal and take steps to ensure such actions never happen again.

In September of 2007, the principal at Hollis F. Price Middle College High told teachers she wanted the names of all student couples, "hetero and homo," because she wanted to monitor them personally to prevent students from engaging in public displays of affection.

The two students now represented by the ACLU, Andrew and Nicholas (who have asked that their last names not be revealed), were two A students who had been seeing each other for a short time and were attempting to keep their relationship quiet and private.

The principal also apparently called the students' parents and outed the boys. As Jeff Fecke of Shakesville put it:

Look, I understand that it's got to be tough to keep hormonally charged teenagers from going overboard, and I don't envy the principal who's got to keep public displays of affection to a minimum. But...criminy, what good would a list of all student couples do her anyhow? The half-life of a high school relationship is about three weeks; by the time the list made it to her desk it would be woefully out of date anyhow.

Protecting the rights of students, particularly their first amendment rights, is always a tricky business - so many institutions and individuals seem to believe that students have none at all. And educational institutions, in theory devoted to developing individuals for full democratic participation in a free society, often stumble over odd notions about protecting student's innocence...

But this case doesn't seem to be about that. Keeping a list of potential student couples (gay or straight) is in no way related to preventing PDA. Posting and enforcing rules about appropriate behavior, and monitoring public spaces will reduce instances of PDA. Creating (and publically displaying) lists of couples represents nothing less than unwarranted (and inappropriate) interest in students personal lives.

If you'd like to learn more about the rights of students, visit the ACLU of Illinois' High School Civil LIberties Project.

hat tip Pandagon