The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennesse has settled a free speech lawsuit with the Giles County school district, calling the settlement a "victory for free speech."

The ACLU filed the suit last November against the school district's superintendent, school board and a high school principal after a student was prohibited from wearing a T-shirt with a pro-gay message to school.

The shirt, which read "Some People Are Gay. Get Over It," was worn by Rebecca Young on the first day of classes at Richland High last August.

When she arrived in the shirt, she was publicly reprimanded by principal Micah Landers, an act that the ACLU argued violated the student's free speech rights.

In response to the ACLU's suit against the school officials, United States District Judge Kevin Sharp issued a temporary injunction in December that said students were allowed to wear pro-LGBT clothing to school as long as it did not cause disruptions.

The injunction also stated that officials of the Giles County school district were not allowed to bar students from wearing apparel "bearing the rainbow symbol or other symbols and phrases associated with LGBT rights."

The suit was officially settled earlier this month, though, once Judge Sharp issued his preliminary injunction on the matter.

In it, he expanded his defense of a student's right to wear pro-LGBT clothing, stating, "Student expression on LGBT issues is speech on a purely political topic, which falls clearly within the ambit of the First Amendment's protection."

The settlement comes after district officials elected to pass an updated dress code this June, which prohibits students from wearing T-shirts with writing on them.

Giles County Director of Schools Philip Wright said the decision to change the dress code had nothing to do with the ACLU lawsuit.

"We really didn't have a very clear dress code policy," Wright said. "It basically stated the student could wear anything as long it wasn't offensive."

"The one thing that the lawsuit has brought to light to us is that we had several board policies that we needed to update," Wright said. "It's just one of those things we needed updated."

Of the court's decision, Thomas H. Castelli, ACLU-TN legal director, said: "The court made a pretty strong statement that schools can't single out students based on their speech. I hope this will help other students in the future who are also speaking out on matters of public concern, whether that be LGBT rights or any other issue, without being reprimanded."

h/t: The Tennessean