INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WOWO): The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a federal lawsuit today against the Eastern Pulaski Community School Corporation on behalf of one of their students.  

The plaintiff, 12-year-old “C.B.,” is a seventh grader at Winamac Community Middle School in the Eastern Pulaski Community School Corporation. The school's seventh grade football team is made up of mostly male students.

C.B. and her father, Joseph Button, asked the principal and athletic director if she could try out for the team, but were told that girls were not allowed to join.

According to the suit filed, the school's decision not to allow C.B. to try out for the football team violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk said, “Numerous courts have recognized that gender is not a valid excuse for keeping young women out of previously all-male sports. Equal protection demands equality of treatment.”