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

[rehmwa 2]

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The problem here is that the school was selling two-person tickets, and had a "no same sex dates" policy. The plaintiff asked her school in advance for an exception to the rule so she could buy a ticket for herself and her date, was told no, and in addition was told that if she danced with her girlfriend she would be in additional trouble.

So, the school put her in a position where she couldn't just "go and keep quiet about it" like you suggest, and that's one of the primary issues.

that changes my position completely, the school put in unnecessary rules and provisions that make my 'best case situation' not doable - thanks for the clarification

I was off just assuming the kids were wearing it on their sleeves to make a fuss - which I find completely counter productive and self serving. I'm so jaded as we see it all the time I jumped to that position.

kids should just get single tickets and then come to the prom however they choose - as long as they aren't filthy, and they respect each other is about all I'd say 'should' be required

thanks, kris

Edit: FWIW - I didn't say "keep quiet", just don't make a big fuss one way or the other - i.e., treat it as normal and others will accept it as normal.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Nightingale 0]

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Edit: FWIW - I didn't say "keep quiet", just don't make a big fuss one way or the other - i.e., treat it as normal and others will accept it as normal.

Sorry for the misquote.

In reading the court documents, treating it as normal with minimal fuss seemed to be exactly what the plaintiff wanted. She appealed quietly to several administrators at her school and the school board before contacting the ACLU, and even offered them a compromise on the tuxedo issue, offering to wear dressy pants and a top rather than a tux because she just isn't comfortable in a dress. The school responded that girls were required to wear dresses and bring male dates and refused to discuss the matter further.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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The school responded that girls were required to wear dresses

That is just messed up. Welcome back to the 1950s.

PS: I like when women wear dresses, but it should be their call, not the school's.

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

[jakee 1,257]

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I didn't say 'secretly', I said go just like any other kids and do their thing just like any other kids.

As said above - it's very unlikely they were in the closet as far as the teachers and other kids were concerned. So be equal - just go as themselves and have a good time - don't hide the orientation, and don't make a big deal either - it should be accepted as normal, so act like it is.

Now you're just making assumptions. You can't make a serious argument about who's fault it was or who put the school board in what position when you're going by what you guess might have happened.

Besides which, "acting normal" about amorous relationships in High School is making a big deal about it. What co-ed school in the developed world doesn't have who's-going-out-with-who as the main topic of gossip? Which hetero-sexual kids don't make a big deal out of who's asked them to the prom and who they're going to go with. You may not mean to, but you're applying a hefty double standard of acceptable behaviour.

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as far as the other comment - I said nothing about "lawsuit" - just that people make a stink and schools try to avoid it. Do you always jump to lawsuits when you have an issue with other people's personal choices?

Oh Bullshit. Do me the courtesy of not lying directly to my metaphorical face, would you? What is it recently with people on these boards not having the stones to back up what they've written down in black and white? Maybe you do all just have the memories of goldfish but somehow I doubt it.

Are you actually trying to deny writing this: "interesting - it might have been the only result with a chance of avoiding a law suit" a mere 3 posts before my reply?

"Said nothing about a lawsuit"... The audacity of you people is astounding.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[futuredivot 0]

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PS: I like when women wear dresses, but it should be their call, not the school's.

Man, a girl I knew in HS wore a tux to her prom (1984) it was seriously hot.

You are only as strong as the prey you devour

[turtlespeed 212]

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any other action would have invited nutballs on either side to make a stink.

And here we are in speakers corner . . . Point made!

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[redlegphi 0]

Unsurprisingly, it seems that the parents and students decided to break out the old "How to keep the black people seperate" playbook and adapted it for the gays. What a bunch of bigoted ass holes.
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/04/05/ACLU_Investigating_Fake_Prom/

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To avoid Constance McMillen bringing a female date to her prom, the teen was sent to a "fake prom" while the rest of her class partied at a secret location at an event organized by parents.

McMillen tells The Advocate that a parent-organized prom happened behind her back — she and her date were sent to a Friday night event at a country club in Fulton, Miss., that attracted only five other students. Her school principal and teachers served as chaperones, but clearly there wasn't much to keep an eye on.

"They had two proms and I was only invited to one of them," McMillen says. "The one that I went to had seven people there, and everyone went to the other one I wasn’t invited to."

Last week McMillen asked one of the students organizing the prom for details about the event, and was directed to the country club. "It hurts my feelings," McMillen says.

Two students with learning difficulties were among the seven people at the country club event, McMillen recalls. "They had the time of their lives," McMillen says. "That's the one good thing that come out of this, [these kids] didn't have to worry about people making fun of them [at their prom]."

In March, after the Itawamba County School District refused to allow McMillen to bring a female date to the prom, the district canceled the event altogether. McMillen and her lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union challenged that decision in court, and a judge ruled the district could not bar McMillen and her date.

The judge declined to force the school district to hold the prom because a parent-sponsored, private prom was being organized — and the understanding was that McMillen and her date were invited to that event. But Hampton says McMillen was never invited and organizers made it very difficult for her to find information on the time and location. That prom was later mysteriously canceled, with the Friday night event at the country club officially replacing it.

[kelpdiver 2]

quite the waste of money and faculty time to avoid dealing with the problem. But looking at the positive, I thought it was a coin flip that she was going to get beaten to the edge of her life when the school made her the bad person who killed the prom.

[virgin-burner 1]

reading this and the story about the apached, i got this words ringing in my head: "god bless america"

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda