Lesbian ruins prom for everybody

[Ed Anger]

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

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."

The statement didn't mention McMillen or the ACLU. When asked by The Associated Press if McMillen's demand led to the cancellation, school board attorney Michele Floyd said she could only reference the statement.

"It is our hope that private citizens will organize an event for the juniors and seniors," district officials said in the statement. "However, at this time, we feel that it is in the best interest of the Itawamba County School District, after taking into consideration the education, safety and well being of our students."

Kristy Bennett, legal director for the ACLU of Mississippi, said the district was trying to avoid the issue.

"But that doesn't take away their legal obligations to treat all the students fairly," Bennett said. "On Constance's behalf, this is unfair to her. All she's trying to do is assert her rights."

Itawamba County is a rural area of about 23,000 people in north Mississippi near the Alabama state line. It borders Pontotoc County, Miss., where more than a decade ago school officials were sued in federal court over their practice of student-led intercom prayer and Bible classes.

Anna Watson, a 17-year-old junior at the high school, was looking forward to the prom, especially since the town's only hotspot is the bowling alley, she said.

"I am a little bummed out about it. I guess it's a decision that had to be made. Either way someone was going to get disappointed — either Constance was or we were," Watson said. "I don't agree with homosexuality, but I can't change what another person thinks or does."

Other students are on McMillen's side.

McKenzie Chaney, 16, said she wasn't planning to attend the prom, but "it's kind of ridiculous that they can't let her wear the tuxedo and it all be over with."

A Feb. 5 memo to students laid out the criteria for bringing a date to the prom, and one requirement was that the person must be of the opposite sex.

The ACLU said McMillen approached school officials shortly before the memo went out because she knew same-sex dates had been banned in the past. The ACLU said district officials told McMillen she and her girlfriend wouldn't be allowed to arrive together, that she would not be allowed to wear a tuxedo, and that she and her girlfriend might be asked to leave if their presence made any other students "uncomfortable."

McMillen said she feared she would be thrown out of the prom because "we do live in the Bible Belt."

[Faeelin]

I don't see how you can blame the girl. The school decided rather than let her show up with another girl, they would cancel it entirely.

[PDH]

I don't see how you can blame the girl. The school decided rather than let her show up with another girl, they would cancel it entirely.

He's blaming the homosexual so that mart gets all excited, duh.

[The Brain]

I'm shocked that this can happen in Itawamba County.

[garbon]

Let's not re-hash.

[grumbler]

I don't see how you can blame the girl. The school decided rather than let her show up with another girl, they would cancel it entirely.

She ought to get a medal.  No prom = less sex that night = less incest that night.

I am betting the school district would have allowed her to bring a female date if the female had been her sister.

[The Brain]

I don't see how you can blame the girl. The school decided rather than let her show up with another girl, they would cancel it entirely.

She ought to get a medal.  No prom = less sex that night = less incest that night.

I am betting the school district would have allowed her to bring a female date if the female had been her sister.

You got a problem with incest?

[merithyn]

Doesn't this happen every year around this time?

[Martinus]

I don't agree with homosexuality

That's the dumbest possible thing to say. Homosexuality is not an opinion or a statement - it's a fact of life. It's like disagreeing with sunlight or ginger hair.

[Caliga]

Meri, yeah, I recall similar stories each year around prom season of gays/lesbians trying to take a same-sex date to the prom... the outcome is typically somewhat different in each case, though.  Last year something like this happened in Tennessee (Chattanooga?) and IIRC at first the girl was told she couldn't attend, but then the school district relented and let her attend.

When I was a kid, there was an openly gay kid in my class, and they let him bring a guy date to the prom without any fuss.  Then within a week, a group of football players beat the shit out of him and he had to go to the hospital. 

[Grallon]

When I was a kid, there was an openly gay kid in my class, and they let him bring a guy date to the prom without any fuss.  Then within a week, a group of football players beat the shit out of him and he had to go to the hospital. 

Did you participate in the beating? 





G.

[Martinus]

Meri, yeah, I recall similar stories each year around prom season of gays/lesbians trying to take a same-sex date to the prom... the outcome is typically somewhat different in each case, though.  Last year something like this happened in Tennessee (Chattanooga?) and IIRC at first the girl was told she couldn't attend, but then the school district relented and let her attend.

When I was a kid, there was an openly gay kid in my class, and they let him bring a guy date to the prom without any fuss.  Then within a week, a group of football players beat the shit out of him and he had to go to the hospital. 

Were they convicted?

[Caliga]

I don't agree with homosexuality

That's the dumbest possible thing to say. Homosexuality is not an opinion or a statement - it's a fact of life. It's like disagreeing with sunlight or ginger hair.

She obviously meant "I think homosexual behavior is wrong".  Whether or not you agree with her is a different story, of course.

[lustindarkness]

Stupid, but if this incident can be used by Mr Anger to troll in Languish, I can live with it.

[Alcibiades]

They could have just gone alone and met up inside or had guy friends take them as their dates if it was about the money. She took this route for the attention.