A court has cleared the way for a student to sue an Orange County school district and her principal for telling her mother she is a lesbian, announced the American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge James V. Selna ruled that Charlene Nguon, 17, may go forward with her suit against the Garden Grove Unified School District claiming violation of privacy rights, reports The Associated Press.

The district argued that Nguon openly kissed and hugged her girlfriend on campus and thus had no expectation of privacy. But Selna found that Nguon had "sufficiently alleged a legally protected privacy interest in information about her sexual orientation."

"This is the first court ruling we're aware of where a judge has recognized that a student has a right not to have her sexual orientation disclosed to her parents, even if she is out of the closet at school," said Christine Sun, an ACLU attorney who brought the case on behalf of Nguon and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network.

Nguon sued after Santiago High School Principal Ben Wolf revealed her sexuality to her mother last year.

The suit also contends Nguon was discrimination against by her principal. It says she was suspended several times for hugging and kissing her girlfriend, while heterosexual couples weren't disciplined.

The suit seeks unspecified damages, an admission that the district violated Nguon's civil rights and a policy change preventing officials from revealing a student's sexual orientation.