Seven pupils in Magnolia, Texas have launched a lawsuit against their school district with support from the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

The school district requires the hair of male students to be “no longer than the bottom of a dress shirt collar, bottom of the ear, and out of the eyes”.

Some pupils – including one of the litigants, a nine-year-old boy – have been suspended from school for refusing to cut their hair.

Brian Klosterboer, staff attorney for ACLU of Texas, said: “We have warned the district repeatedly that its gender-based hair policy violates the Constitution, but the district continues to derail students’ lives and deny their right to a public education free from discrimination.”