GARY | Though he could have worn a nice women's pantsuit without incident, Kevin "K.K." Logan was refused entrance to his senior prom in 2006 when he arrived wearing a pink ankle-length gown.

The transgender Gary student responded with a federal lawsuit, saying administrators trampled on his right to free expression and his right to be free from discrimination on the basis of "gender identity" at a public school that receives federal funds.

In it's formal response to the lawsuit Friday, attorneys for the district said federal courts do not have jurisdiction over the issue because they don't have the power to dictate local school dress codes, especially when constitutional rights have not been violated.

"(Logan) has failed to identify how a male student has a constitutionally protected right to wear a dress to a prom," wrote Ragen Hatcher, attorney for the district.

Jim Madigan, a Chicago-based lawyer for the Lambda Legal Defense Fund representing Logan, predicted failure for the district's strategy of arguing that state's rights trump federal powers in local schools.

"Schools are government ... And there are times when governments do things that violate someone's federal rights," Madigan said. "It's not normal, I don't think, that women wear pants suits to prom. It seems like they're carving out a special rule for (Logan)."

Logan, who was a senior at West End High School in the 2005-06 year, describes himself in the lawsuit as "an African-American transgender person whose sex is male but whose expression of gender is female."

The lawsuit says he frequently wore women's clothing, jewelry and make-up to school, and that nearly all of the students and teachers supported his identity, including when he appeared at pep rallies as a member of the high school drill team.

Although he had an assistant principal's permission to wear his feminine dress to the prom, Principal Diana Rouse told him he could only wear a pant-suit. When prom night came, Rouse physically blocked the dressed-up Logan from entering the building.

"What should have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Logan to share memories with friends before graduation became an episode in humiliation and exclusion," the lawsuit says.

Hatcher wrote, "School boards and authorities have traditionally had such control until the past few years when over-zealous civil rights organizations and others have brought a growing number of complaints in the federal court.