LEESBURG, FL — Fourteen-year-old Hannah Faughnan has taken her middle school to court for denying her the right to re-establish a gay-straight alliance on campus.

The Florida teen claims the alliance would serve as a sanctuary for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender teens and their friends.

Faughnan testified in federal court recently wearing a rainbow-colored bow tie. Carver Middle School reportedly rejected the proposal on several occasions.

“Bullying is a very, very difficult problem, and it’s a problem for everyone. It’s kind of like snowflakes — no one case is like the other, and the GSA finds ways to solve these issues,” Faughnan said in court.T

The school has resisted the idea of an alliance since 2013. At that time, student Bayli Silberstein had established an alliance only after filing a lawsuit against the school with the support of the American Civil Liberties Union. The school later banned the club, claiming it went against school policy.

The ACLU is also assisting Faughnan.

“I want to make sure students after me will be able to form the club also and not have to go through this again,” Faughnan said.

The ACLU states that the school’s decision to ban the group “violates student’s rights.”

“Students deserve schools that support them in ending bullying rather than exacerbating the problem,” said Daniel Tilley, an ACLU attorney and lead counsel in the case. “It’s time for the students at Carver to have the closure they deserve and have their right to establish this club to make their school a safer place respected.”

The school stands by its 2003 decision, saying that its policy does not target the alliance in particular but instead limits clubs that are not athletic or an extension of school curriculum.

“Our policy was passed in order to comply with federal and state law, and it complied with those laws. There was no constitutional violation against anybody,” states Steve Johnson, an attorney for the Lake County School Board.

The ACLU will argue can show that Carver Middle School, because it offers courses for high school credit, is subject to the U.S. Equal Access Act. The act requires federally-funded secondary schools to treat all extracurricular clubs the same.

U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges is expected to make a decision on the case sometime in early April.