Do you know this to be true? Can you cite a media report that has "plenty of girls showing up together at their proms"?
If you had taken the time to read the complaint, the plaintiff was forbidden from purchasing a "couples" ticket. Couples tickets were apparently more expensive than two single's tickets.
You may think it's a great idea to let the state determine whom you may date. I don't.
I don't approve of homosexual behavior, but at the same time it's none of the government's damn business to determine who is a couple, and who is not a couple. At least that's the way it should work in a free republic.
I don't have to cite a media report. I have a beautiful photograph of a young relative at her prom; she went single with friends.
Couples tickets were apparently more expensive than two single's tickets.
You must mean "less expensive"; otherwise, why would anyone buy a couple's ticket? I didn't realize the complaint was online. I've only been reading the news reports. So, I looked up the complaint: According to the school memo (attached to the complaint), each Junior or Senior pays $35. Each junior and senior can bring one "guest" of the opposite sex who is either a lowerclassman, college age, or a student at another high school for $10 more.
This senior's "girlfriend" is a sophomore. So, I guess the sophomore and the senior could not have attended as singles after all because the sophomore could only attend as a guest of a Junior or Senior of the opposite sex (correction on me).
Talk about unfair: it appears couples who are Juniors/Seniors must pay more money ($70) than a Junior or Senior bringing a lowerclassman ($45).
You may think it's a great idea to let the state determine whom you may date.
I don't think it's the state's business to determine any such thing. (Education shouldn't be the state's business, either. All proms should be private; and so should all schools.) But, the state isn't telling this woman whom to date. The school merely established policies for the prom.
Nowhere does the school policy restrict students who identify as "gay" from the prom. If both of these girls were upperclassmen, they could've bought their tickets at $35 apiece, like all the other juniors and seniors are required to do, worn prom dresses like all the other girls are required to do, and gone to the prom. Nowhere does the policy state that you have to go with a date. It also doesn't state whom you can date. It merely says that juniors and seniors each can bring one guest of the opposite sex who is either a lowerclassman, college age student, or student from another high school.
Again, this case is about special privileges for this one student: special privileges in the dress code and in the guest policy. Why should selected rules be overturned for this one student? What about the other rules? What about students who cannot afford tuxedos or gowns? Suppose a student wants to bring a guest older than college age?
Putting ourselves in the school's position, what's next? If a girl can wear a tuxedo to the prom, why can't other students wear what they want? Suppose a boy wants to wear a dress? Cancelling the prom was the best course of action. Then REAL free association can take place as families - including the families of these girls - are free to hold private proms and decide for themselves who will be invited and what will be worn.
Otherwise, this case itself is not about free association. If the state tried to stop families from hosting their own private prom, THAT would be a case about free association. If these two girls were welcome to attend a privately-held prom, and the state tried to restrict them, THAT would be a case about free association. But, no, this case is about a public school establishing a dress code and guest policy for a prom.