ONGOING PROM DRAMA
March 11th, 2010
FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: I have seriously watched this, an amalgamation of every movie you’ve ever seen ever, five times at least. I love it! So funny. And these guys have a movie at South by Southwest. Win!
I spoke with my lovely editor yesterday and we talked about the next round of changes to PROMGATE. I am going to get started, and soon, with the goal to have the changes wrapped up quickly. With any luck, the book will come out in spring 2011, which is only a year away. I am freaking out because that is so stinkin’ awesome.
As a follow-up to our conversation, she sent me a story about a teen who was denied admittance to her prom because of her sexual orientation (she’s a lesbian who wanted to take her girlfriend to the dance). I’m pasting the story below. And here’s my thought on the whole thing: the prom story that inspired my book happened more than fifteen years ago, and you’d think that society would have evolved a bit more since then. But it’s clear from this story that small towns may always have a small-town mentality, and that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Have a look at the story and let me know what you think:
Story Source: Yahoo
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.”
“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.
Itawamba County is a rural area of about 23,000 people in north Mississippi near the Alabama state line. It’s near 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.”
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.”
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