Natalie Jones, 12, prepared a powerpoint presentation on the life of Harvey Milk,  but she was not allowed to give the report in class unless her fellow students first got signed permission slips from their parents, according to a report in the San Deigo Union-Tribune.  Ramona, Calif. school officials told the sixth-grader her report violated the school district’s sex education policy.

The ACLU now says the school violated Jones’ right to free speech.  According to the Union-Tribune:

The school rescheduled Natalie’s presentation for May 8, at a lunch recess, Blair-Loy wrote. In the meantime, school officials sent home a letter to all parents in the class that included the permission slip.

The letter to parents described how Milk had championed minority rights, founded the gay rights parade and pushed for a gay rights act. The letter said parental permission was requested “in order to respect the rights of all our students and their parents.”

Natalie gave the presentation to about half the class, Blair-Loy said. The ACLU wants the district to apologize to Natalie, send letters “reflecting such apology” to parents who received the school district permission request, let Natalie give the presentation to the whole class and clarify that the board policy applies only to course content for sex-education instruction. The group also wants the district to say situations like this won’t happen again.

“We think the school district singled out and discriminated against Natalie’s speech because of its content,” Blair-Loy said. “This is not sex education. This is a presentation about Harvey Milk, a historical figure who happened to be gay.”