A former Michigan school principal says his rights were violated when he was forced out of his job for giving a gift that he said was based on an inside joke to a woman who was leaving for another job.

But the superintendent alleges the security guard who was given the wooden penis by John Stanton felt sexually harassed.

Stanton filed a federal lawsuit in January against Superintendent Leonard Woodside, 18 months after he says he was forced to resign at Anchor Bay High School in St. Clair County. Stanton says the security guard who got the gift was not upset as officials had claimed.

The woman filed an affidavit and said she "was not offended."

The Detroit News reports that the item was confiscated from a student. Stanton says he returned it to the woman as a funny gift.