The decision whether to allow a Gay-Straight Alliance at a middle school in Lake County now lies with a judge after a two-day hearing in federal court.

"We have a policy in place, and we will apply it fairly and equally," Lake County Superintendent Dr. Susan Moxley said Tuesday, defending her district's controversial school club policies that landed her on the witness stand, and have led to three lawsuits over the last two years from both liberal and conservative groups.

Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union said the school district's constantly shifting reasons for denying a Gay-Straight Alliance, even going so far to rewrite club policies, prove discrimination.

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

Those changes were made just before then-12-year-old Hannah Faughnan applied to have the club aimed at curbing bullying at Carver Middle School, and after another student, Bayli Silberstein, successfully sued the school board in order to get the GSA.

But when Faughnan applied, she was told she couldn't, because it wasn't an extension of the school's curriculum.

This week in federal court, the administrator who denied the application admitted she made a mistake interpreting the board's own policy.

"There were other clubs that managed to get approved on critical thinking, and if some amendments were made, that one probably would have been approved as well," said Johnson.

"I learned it takes a lot to prove a point," said Faughnan, now 14, in court Tuesday.

No follow-up application was ever made. Exactly when those involved with the club found out they could reapply, and how much they were told, is up for a judge to determine.

For Faughnan, it's back to class while she awaits the judge's decision.

"I'm sure there will be many opinions when I go back to school tomorrow," she said. "Some people will support me, and some won't. That's just how it is."

Each side can still submit their conclusions for the next month, so by the time the judge enters his ruling, even if it's in the student's favor, she would likely only to get have the club for about a month — coincidentally the same amount of time Silberstein had before moving on to high school.