School cancels prom rather than let lesbian student wear tuxedo and attend with girlfriend

[Andy9o8 3]

Remember the Mississippi high school that wouldn't let a lesbian senior wear a tuxedo in her high school yearbook photo? We discussed it here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3701461;search_string=prom%20tuxedo;#3701461

Well, here's another Mississippi high school that was refusing to allow a lesbian student attend its prom with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. The student pursued the issue. So what did the school board do? They decided what was really important to them - and canceled the prom entirely.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_lesbian_prom_date

Quote

Miss. school prom off after lesbian's date request

By SHELIA BYRD, Associated Press Writer Shelia Byrd, Associated Press Writer – Thu Mar 11, 11:00 am ET

JACKSON, Miss. – A northern Mississippi school district will not be hosting a high school prom this spring after a lesbian student sought to attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.

The Itawamba County school district's board decided Wednesday to drop the prom because of what it called recent distractions but without specifically mentioning the girl's request, which was backed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The student, 18-year-old high school senior Constance McMillen, said the cancellation was retaliation for her efforts to bring her girlfriend, also a student, to the April 2 dance.

"A bunch of kids at school are really going to hate me for this, so in a way it's really retaliation," McMillen told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson. Calls to McMillen by The Associated Press late Wednesday went unanswered.

School policy requires that senior prom dates be of the opposite sex. The ACLU of Mississippi had given the district until Wednesday to change that policy, arguing that banning same-sex prom dates violated McMillen's constitutional rights.

Instead, the school board met and issued a statement announcing it wouldn't host the event at Itawamba County Agricultural High School in Fulton, "due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events."

[AndyBoyd 0]

This is rural Mississippi, near the Alabama border. Bible Belt area. The reaction of the school is sad but unsurprising.

[airdvr 210]

Seems I remember this story from last year too.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[kelpdiver 2]

hope neither of those girls gets attacked or killed because of this school decision.

[Skyrad 0]

Does anyone who agrees with the schools stance have the courage o their convictions to explain why they agree?

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[futuredivot 0]

Quote

Does anyone who agrees with the schools stance have the courage o their convictions to explain why they agree?

I can see where the issue could become so large as to interfere with the education process. I agree that the school has the right to say "Hey, we don't want to be in the middle of this fight" and took that option and limited their liability on more than one front.

You are only as strong as the prey you devour

[Andy9o8 3]

Quote

I can see where the issue could become so large as to interfere with the education process. I agree that the school has the right to say "Hey, we don't want to be in the middle of this fight" and took that option and limited their liability on more than one front.

They weren't in the middle of the fight; they were a combatant.
What harm would have been wrought by just letting her attend in the manner she wished?
And what liability do you think they might have faced if they'd agreed to her request? Liability to whom? For what?

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

I agree that the school has the right to say "Hey, we don't want to be in the middle of this fight" and took that option and limited their liability on more than one front.

They traded the liability for the possibility that someone at the dance would ignore their date to pick on these lesbians, for the possibility that one of the entire senior class that was denied their prom would take it out of these girls sometime between now and the end of summer.

Which one seems to have greater liability to you?

[Nightingale 0]

Sigh... you do what schools in California have been doing for years. You don't sell couples tickets, you sell each student a ticket, and if the student wants to bring someone from another school, the other person needs to be a student at another high school in the district and buy a ticket through their school office. That way, nobody is "sanctioning" anybody's dates.

And as long as the student is wearing appropriate formal attire, who gives a damn if it's a dress or a tux? Women have been wearing pants regularly for at least forty years now.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Quote

Sigh... you do what schools in California have been doing for years. You don't sell couples tickets, you sell each student a ticket, and if the student wants to bring someone from another school, the other person needs to be a student at another high school in the district and buy a ticket through their school office. That way, nobody is "sanctioning" anybody's dates.

And as long as the student is wearing appropriate formal attire, who gives a damn if it's a dress or a tux? Women have been wearing pants regularly for at least forty years now.

Another common sense solution from Nightingale ... Nightingale for prez in 2012.

This is nuts. The entire prom will be canceled because of this? WTF? I know a male in a prom dress is controversial, but a female in a tux? Come on get a grip. I used to date a really attractive girl (yeah I know hard to believe someone as ugly as me could date an attractive woman ... haha) and she never wore skirts or dresses. Plus she was religious on top of all this. It's not like she was stuck in the 1950s like members of this school district obviously are.

Someone please go close the doors to the asylum. All the nuts are escaping (including me).

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Belgian_Draft 0]

Quote

...who gives a damn if it's a dress or a tux?

I agree. It doesn't matter what they wear as long as their ankles don't show.

It's bullshit. The school not only deprived the girls of their right to attend prom, they deprived the entire senior class. I hope the entire class files suit against the school.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[quade 4]

Files suit? I don't agree with the actions of the school board, but a prom is not a "right." A lawsuit is simply a further waste of educational dollars.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Nightingale 0]

Quote

Files suit? I don't agree with the actions of the school board, but a prom is not a "right." A lawsuit is simply a further waste of educational dollars.

Yeah...

She has every right to file suit when she is being discriminated against. However, the class filing suit against the school for canceling prom? That's just stupid. What ought to be done is that students get together, rent a hall, ask for donations to cover the cost, find a volunteer DJ, and throw their own damn prom, school board be damned. At least, that's what I'd have done when I was a student.

[Andy9o8 3]

Quote

Quote

Files suit? I don't agree with the actions of the school board, but a prom is not a "right." A lawsuit is simply a further waste of educational dollars.

Yeah...

She has every right to file suit when she is being discriminated against. However, the class filing suit against the school for canceling prom? That's just stupid. What ought to be done is that students get together, rent a hall, ask for donations to cover the cost, find a volunteer DJ, and throw their own damn prom, school board be damned. At least, that's what I'd have done when I was a student.

At least one follow-up article I've seen today notes that there's some discussion of some private sponsor(s) possibly putting on a prom for these kids; McMillen (the student in question) is quoted as saying that if that happens, she doesn't expect to be welcome...

[Belgian_Draft 0]

Stupid for what reason? Those two girls aren't the only ones the school disciminated against, they disciminated against ALL the students by denying them their right to attend the prom with whom they chose. If the girls can file suit, so can everyone else.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[futuredivot 0]

Quote

Liability to whom? For what?

(just quoted for continuity)

Not the school's job to bless or curse a social situation-prom isn't a "right" and in a town of 4K community standards must be considered.

You are only as strong as the prey you devour

[pbwing 0]

Maybe get the ACLU to sponsor it.

[jakee 1,648]

Quote

Quote

Liability to whom? For what?

(just quoted for continuity)

Not the school's job to bless or curse a social situation

Your argument makes no sense. They absolutely did take a stance, a very strong stance, on the issue.

Quote

prom isn't a "right" and in a town of 4K community standards must be considered.

50 years ago the community standards of a small town like that would have prohibited black kids to attend that school. It was absolutely right that they were forced to change then, and this is no different.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[Skyrad 0]

Quote

Quote

Sigh... you do what schools in California have been doing for years. You don't sell couples tickets, you sell each student a ticket, and if the student wants to bring someone from another school, the other person needs to be a student at another high school in the district and buy a ticket through their school office. That way, nobody is "sanctioning" anybody's dates.

And as long as the student is wearing appropriate formal attire, who gives a damn if it's a dress or a tux? Women have been wearing pants regularly for at least forty years now.

Another common sense solution from Nightingale ... Nightingale for prez in 2012.

This is nuts. The entire prom will be canceled because of this? WTF? I know a male in a prom dress is controversial, but a female in a tux? Come on get a grip. I used to date a really attractive girl (yeah I know hard to believe someone as ugly as me could date an attractive woman ... haha) and she never wore skirts or dresses. Plus she was religious on top of all this. It's not like she was stuck in the 1950s like members of this school district obviously are.

Someone please go close the doors to the asylum. All the nuts are escaping (including me).

This sounds like a collective punishment designed to invoke a individual punishment by the collective. Something like making a entire squad of men do press ups in the mud while the one guy who was talking in the ranks gets to stand by and watch, followed by running the squad fr a few miles because of one guy. Make the collective punishment because of one person and watch the mob tun on them. I'm suprised that the school can legally get away with this kind of discrimination.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

Files suit? I don't agree with the actions of the school board, but a prom is not a "right." A lawsuit is simply a further waste of educational dollars.

+1

Stupid officials are stupid.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[redlegphi 0]

Quote

Quote

Quote

Files suit? I don't agree with the actions of the school board, but a prom is not a "right." A lawsuit is simply a further waste of educational dollars.

Yeah...

She has every right to file suit when she is being discriminated against. However, the class filing suit against the school for canceling prom? That's just stupid. What ought to be done is that students get together, rent a hall, ask for donations to cover the cost, find a volunteer DJ, and throw their own damn prom, school board be damned. At least, that's what I'd have done when I was a student.

At least one follow-up article I've seen today notes that there's some discussion of some private sponsor(s) possibly putting on a prom for these kids; McMillen (the student in question) is quoted as saying that if that happens, she doesn't expect to be welcome...

Which caused me to think of this.
Of course, the fight for gay civil rights is completely different from the fight for racial civil rights.

[Andy9o8 3]

I heard a story on NPR this morning that a hotel owner in New Orleans has offered to put the prom on at his hotel and send buses to take the kids to & from the event, entirely at his own expense. Sometimes the best way to highlight others' mean-spiritedness is to simply act humane.

[shropshire 0]

Quote

I heard a story on NPR this morning that a hotel owner in New Orleans has offered to put the prom on at his hotel and send buses to take the kids to & from the event, entirely at his own expense. Sometimes the best way to highlight others' mean-spiritedness is to simply act humane.

- At last, someone with some common sense and public spirit.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

I heard a story on NPR this morning that a hotel owner in New Orleans has offered to put the prom on at his hotel and send buses to take the kids to & from the event, entirely at his own expense. Sometimes the best way to highlight others' mean-spiritedness is to simply act humane.

Kudos to the hotel owner

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[futuredivot 0]

Quote

I heard a story on NPR this morning that a hotel owner in New Orleans has offered to put the prom on at his hotel and send buses to take the kids to & from the event, entirely at his own expense. Sometimes the best way to highlight others' mean-spiritedness is to simply act humane.

Fantastic! I would have been happier if the offer had come from a more local source but.....

You are only as strong as the prey you devour