Posted on 03/14/2010 5:45:27 PM PDT by Maelstorm
As most people have already heard, a Mississippi school has canceled its Senior Prom in response to a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf Constance McMillen, a young girl who was barred from attending the school dance because her choice of date is also female. The chain of events are pretty simple.
Back in December Constance inquired about the possibility of bringing her girlfriend to the upcoming event and was told it was against school policy. According to her the rule is meant to prevent non-coupled students from purchasing tickets at a discount price; guest tickets are only $10.
As a compromise she offered to arrive separately from her date who would meet her inside but was told that her choice of attire, a tuxedo, might be disruptive to the other students and if anyone complained of their dancing, they would be told to leave. After explaining to her principal that the policy was discriminatory against homosexual students and still being refused, she took her complaint to the ACLU and the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition.
Here is where things get awesome.
In the memo announcing the dissolution of this years Prom the Itawamaba County school board expressed its "hope that private citizens will organize an event for the juniors and seniors." In response to this heartfelt wish, American Humanist Association members Todd and Diana Stiefel have made a $20,000 grant available in order to throw the Itawamba Agricultural High School their own, privately funded Senior Prom, open to all who wish to attend. As a fan of debate, this sort of tactical rebuttal is a thing of beauty. You want to enact a discriminatory policy against your students, then wash your hands of the whole thing? You want to leave it up to the invisible hand of the free-market to provide your students with a the most important dance of their young lives? That's fine. We do precisely that, tuxedo lesbians and all.
This is precisely the sort of activity Humanism should be involved in and it is wonderful to see it in action. What remains to be seen how open to this the Itawamba community is to the proposal but I suspect those students will have one hell of a kick-ass senior prom. Constance may have been told by a few students that she has "ruined highschool" but with any luck she'll be the Beau of the Ball
I think it's more like the school board wants to protect it's students from perversion and freaks, and just be done with the whole sordid affair. Contrary to media accounts, there is very little about lesbians that is redeeming.
If he were dating his pillow, they could come.
Fine. They can have their prom at the highway rest stop.
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