Comments on: US school cancels prom over lesbian student’s date

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 05 May 2011 18:32:44 +0000

This was a good job on the schools part. Still shows that some people are moral!

By: ShelleyB

ShelleyB — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:16:53 +0000

Well… I am considered a redneck,but I still think people should be allowed to be themselves. It should not matter who their date is, or what their sexual preference is. That is no-ones business. A prom is a prom for ALL the students. Who is anyone to judge anyone else by their own uptight and ignorant ideas? So much for progression!!

By: Joe Schmoe

Joe Schmoe — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:57:09 +0000

Normally, the school would have the right to cancel the prom for any reason or no reason. However, in this case the cancellation is aimed at circumventing civil rights laws. Hence completely unacceptable!

By: Katfell

Katfell — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:26:56 +0000

HeyI want you guys to know that this isn’t just a problem in the states I live in Canada and because I go to a catholic school I am not aloud to bring a same sex partner. I am in grade 12 and two months ago my girlfriend at the time realized that it wasn’t all dress shopping and shoe hunting. When I explained to her that I would have to get a male escort or be paired with an opposite sex floater (a person you don’t know to accompany you and is in your grad pictures till the day you die ugh!) she was very upset. I explained that my school doesn’t even allow their students to go to grad alone. She (being both stubborn and jealous) said she would dump me if I went to my own graduation. I couldn’t disappoint my family that way since they don’t even support my bisexuality. She dumped me as she said. When I went back out into the dating world I had to realize that a lot of girls found this unfair so I refused to date anymore girls due to that heartbreak poor Linda went through. I am now with a boy who is sweet enough. But I will always think what if I missed finding THE ONE cause I wouldn’t have been able to take her to grad.

By: Har Davids

Har Davids — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:27:04 +0000

Like most people, I’d never heard of this school, but it has managed to get the attention from all over the world. The decision to cancel the prom is the school’s, but I wonder if the other students had a problem with the presence of a gay couple.

By: Yewtree

Yewtree — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:33:35 +0000

Aha! I found the relevant email addresses on the Facebook group.

Here’s the email that I sent to tmcneece@itawamba.k12.ms.us, twiygul@itawamba.k12.ms.us

Dear Superintendent McNeece and Principal Wiygul,

I am writing to point out that lesbian and gay students have a right to bring a same-sex date to the prom and wear clothing congruent with their gender identity under the First Amendment, and the US Supreme Court has ruled that a policy or public entity that is based on discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

Simply cancelling the prom seems like a disproportionate response to a simple request to bring a same-sex partner. Please reinstate the prom and allow Constance McMillen to bring her partner as her date, and wear a tuxedo if she wishes.

I am deeply dismayed by your discriminatory practice, and feel that it should be a matter of regret to you that your school is now infamous around the world for this bigoted, disproportionate and unjust response to a lesbian student and her partner.

Yours sincerely

More info from the ACLU

By: Yewtree

Yewtree — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:08:41 +0000

The Itawamba school website appears to be down, otherwise I would have written to them to tell them what bigoted b@stards they are.

I have joined the Facebook group though.

I am outraged that this girl was prevented from attending the prom with her girlfriend.

By: Abi1975

Abi1975 — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:59:34 +0000

CNN news report on this: http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2010/03/11/hln.lesbian.prom.controversy.cnn

By: Iris

Iris — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:25:37 +0000

Thank you for that, Val – lovely pics. And thank you for the update, Abi1975.

By: val

val — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:38:25 +0000

Autostraddle is putting up a gallery of girls who brought girls to prom to show how sweet and not weird it is! check it out:

http://www.autostraddle.com/lesbian-prom-37132/

By: jckfmsincty

jckfmsincty — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:39:59 +0000

Who says Mississippi isn’t progressive?

By: izzi

izzi — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:15:46 +0000

The high school that my daughter graduated from last year not only let her wear a tux to prom her junior and senior year, but, she was also permitted to take a female friend. The same for all dances and events at the school…my daughter was never discriminated against for being gay during her high school career. She also spearheaded the “National Day of Silence” each year, with support of the administration. This is bullying and discrimination at its worst.

By: Abi1975

Abi1975 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:36:53 +0000

This is the update on PamsHouseblend

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit today against a Mississippi High School that has cancelled prom rather than let a lesbian high school student attend the prom with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo to the event. In papers filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, the ACLU asks the court to reinstate the prom for all students at the school and charges Itawamba County School District officials are violating Constance McMillen’s First Amendment right to freedom of expression.

“All I wanted was the same chance to enjoy my prom night like any other student. But my school would rather hurt all the students than treat everyone fairly,” said McMillen, an 18-year-old senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi. “This isn’t just about me and my rights anymore – now I’m fighting for the right of all the students at my school to have our prom.”

Today’s filing comes after Itawamba County School District issued a statement yesterday saying they were cancelling prom, following a letter from the ACLU and the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition demanding that they reverse their decision. McMillen said that before that happened, school officials had told her that she could not arrive at the prom with her girlfriend, also a student at IAHS, and that they might be thrown out if any other students complained about their presence at the April 2 event.

“Itawamba school officials are trying to turn Constance into the villain who called the whole thing off, and that just isn’t what happened. She’s fighting for everyone to be able to enjoy the prom,” said Kristy Bennett, Legal Director of the ACLU of Mississippi. “The government, and that includes public schools, can’t censor someone’s free expression just because some other person might not like it.”

In today’s legal complaint, the ACLU asks the court to reinstate the prom for all students and charges that the First Amendment guarantees students’ right to bring same-sex dates to school dances and cites cases holding that other parties’ objections don’t justify censorship. The ACLU also said that the school further violates McMillen’s free expression rights by telling her that she can’t wear a tuxedo to the prom.

“It’s shameful and cowardly of the school district to have cancelled the prom and to try to blame Constance, who’s only standing up for herself. We will fight tooth and nail for the prom to be reinstated for all students,” said Christine P. Sun, Senior Counsel with the ACLU national LGBT Project, who represents McMillen along with the ACLU of Mississippi.

The ACLU will ask the court in the next few days to grant McMillen a preliminary injunction ordering the school to reinstate the April 2 prom, let McMillen and her girlfriend go to the prom together, and let McMillen wear a tuxedo to the event.

McMillen is represented by Bennett and Sun, as well as by Norman C. Simon and Joshua Glick of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP.

The case name is Constance McMillen v. Itawamba County School District, et al. Also named as defendants are Superintendent Teresa McNeece and Itawamba Agricultural High School Principal Trae Wiygul and Vice Principal Rick Mitchell. Additional information, including a copy of today’s legal complaint, is available at: http://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/fulton-ms-prom-discrimination. There is also a Facebook group for people who want to support McMillen: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Let-Constance-Take-Her-Girlfriend-to-Prom/357686784817

By: Dave North

Dave North — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:22:18 +0000

Stop Press….

She is suing the School.

Ain’t the United Sphincter of @rsehole ( USA ) wonderful.

By: val

val — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:03:29 +0000

Wow… it would be good if people organising the private prom would dedicate the evening to her… Hopefully she’ll get some support from her community.

By: J

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:56:09 +0000

i sent the principal an e-mail with a piece of my mind! we should be filling up these tramps inboxes up with messages of support for this girl..

By: Dominick J.

Dominick J. — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:46:01 +0000

First I’m surprised not more of her “friends” aren’t standing beside her.
Second, if getting more media coverage of what the school is doing will help after, then by all means get it out there news media!!! It is a Government funded school. The principal should be fired and any staff who would agree with the Principal should be let go too!! And the parents should challenge the School and name it’s principal in a law suit over this and I would Hope the ACLU would be at their side for this.

By: Iris

Iris — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:26:55 +0000

“Ms McMillen was also told that if she danced with her girlfriend, the couple would be thrown out.”

Yeah, right – because you never see straight girls dancing together do you? Idiots. I do wish the nasty, spiteful ignorant tw@ts responsible for this decision were taken to court and prosecuted. Hopefully, all the students will see that this girl is in no way to blame and that it’s totally the school’s fault that they’ll have no prom.

By: Axle

Axle — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:45:06 +0000

Please don’t associate all of the United States with those backwards ass country $#@#%! from the south; they’ve hated minorities since the civil war. That being said they are technically following the American law in that if you can’t discriminate against one group or individual you must discriminate equally, ergo no one gets to go. Values are an important part of public education which is why more than half of all schools teach abstinence; underage pregnancies breed character like singling out one particular student in an important life lesson about what happens when there’s mob rule coupled with family values rhetoric. It’s the kind of simple logic that makes the land of Dixie so contestable we wish they would have become their own country. This really isn’t surprising; they still segregate some proms down south too–Atlanta did it up until a few years ago saying students preferred it that way because there was too much discourse and arguements over music/theme etc…more racist bs…you get the picture.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:43:07 +0000

I can’t see the point of proms, what’s the reason for having them? Ditto for Trick or Treating at Halloween, children begging for treats or else they play a trick on you. Mindless stuff and sending the wrong message to children that if you can’t get what you want in life, then someone is going to pay for it with retribution. No wonder there is so much more petty crime in America than here. Another import we can do without. A stupid way to raise children.