# US school cancels prom to avoid lesbian student bringing a date **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 11, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108 "2010-03-11T15:28:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/1 "2010-03-11T15:28:07Z")
> **[Access Restricted](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7418195/US-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date.html)** > [@](#): > > \*\* > US school cancels prom to avoid lesbian student bringing a date > A school in America has decided to cancel its prom dance after a lesbian student demanded she be able to attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. > \*\* > The Mississippi school district’s policy requires that senior prom dates be of the opposite sex. The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi had given the district until Wednesday to change that policy and allow 18-year-old Constance McMillen to escort her girlfriend, who is also a student, to the dance on April 2. > > 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.” > > * * * > > Itawamba County is a rural area of about 23,000 people in north Mississippi near the Alabama state line. It borders Pontotoc County, Mississippi, where more than a decade ago school officials were sued in federal court over their practice of student-led intercom prayer and Bible classes. > > 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 Miss 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 Miss 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.” > > Miss McMillen said she feared she would be thrown out of the prom because “we do live in the Bible Belt.” Just out of curiosity, is the point of this to punish the girl, and make the other students blame/ostracise her, or do the school simply want to dodge the issue altogether, by not holding the event and therefore not open themselves up to legal action? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/2 "2010-03-11T15:37:06Z")
I don’t care what their reasons or reasoning is, they are wrong on several levels - same as the were when they used the same approach to race. If I say much more I’m going to get a time-out for it so I’ll just stop here. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/3 "2010-03-11T15:38:26Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7418195/US-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date.html](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7418195/US-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date.html) > Just out of curiosity, is the point of this to punish the girl, and make the other students blame/ostracize her, or do the school simply want to dodge the issue altogether, by not holding the event and therefore not open themselves up to legal action? I think much more the former than the latter. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/4 "2010-03-11T15:41:09Z")
I agree with **Czarcasm**. This is meant to piss everyone off towards this girl and make her suffer even more. How incredibly intolerant and cruel. Guess they just didn’t have the stones to make a stand against just one person and possibly deal with the legal (and monetary) ramifications. ---
**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/5 "2010-03-11T15:42:52Z")
I would say probably both. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/6 "2010-03-11T15:43:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I think much more the former than the latter. My guess would be the latter. They’re covering their asses. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/7 "2010-03-11T15:46:27Z")
Cancel the entire prom?! How 20th century. They should be burning her and her girlfriend at the stake like they used to… _at_ the prom. Jesus loves a good stake-burnin’. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/8 "2010-03-11T15:50:57Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > Just out of curiosity, is the point of this to punish the girl, and make the other students blame/ostracise her, or do the school simply want to dodge the issue altogether, by not holding the event and therefore not open themselves up to legal action? Maybe they just want to make themselves look like troglodytes, and confirm stereotypes of their home state and region. They’re accomplishing that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/9 "2010-03-11T15:51:46Z")
Aside from the legal problems, they’re trying to avoid complaints from all the people who could get pissed off at them: people who want them to change the policy and people who don’t want them to change the policy. Schools are prone to doing stupid and risk averse things like this: faced with a choice they consider unpleasant, they’d prefer to punt. So they’re having no prom, and they’ll let a private person who with no legal liability take care of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/10 "2010-03-11T15:53:12Z")
I’m surprised they allow **dancing**. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/11 "2010-03-11T15:53:33Z")
Of course, “distracting to the educational process” is legalese code for the only valid reason for discriminating in garments, jewelry, etc. – one may do so if and only if the alleged article of clothing or accessory will distract other students from their studies. Which makes me wonder what the “educational process” of a prom might have been. One hopes the students have learned a lot from this experience, though. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/12 "2010-03-11T16:01:40Z")
The school was probably getting sick of being bombarded on all sides by parents, ACLU, students, townspeople, you name it. Being forced to be the moderator in a huge mess of people with varying opinions and threats I’d be tempted to do the same thing. “You know what, F all of you, nobody wants to play nice nobody gets to play at all. Prom canceled.” I’ve done the same thing when my nieces wanted to play Candyland. “I want to be blue!”, “No, I want to be blue.” (crying) “You know what? Nobody gets to be blue because I’m putting Candyland away and now nobody gets to play.” ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/13 "2010-03-11T16:05:04Z")
Lightweight… everyone wants to be blue in Candyland? Stake burning. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/14 "2010-03-11T16:11:00Z")
> [@Qwakkeddup](#): > > I would say probably both. That’d be my guess, too. They get to cancel and weasel out of it, and at the same time point to the couple and say, “See? It’s not our fault! It’s theirs!” ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/15 "2010-03-11T16:20:10Z")
They saw that “Carrie” documentary and decided that is was better to be safe than sorry… ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/16 "2010-03-11T16:23:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Aside from the legal problems, they’re trying to avoid complaints from all the people who could get pissed off at them: people who want them to change the policy and people who don’t want them to change the policy. Schools are prone to doing stupid and risk averse things like this: faced with a choice they consider unpleasant, they’d prefer to punt. So they’re having no prom, and they’ll let a private person who with no legal liability take care of it. I think you hit the nail on the head. In one of my past jobs I had to work on issues involving the local school systems. They hate dealing with anything controversial, and when something like this comes up, they just want to nip it in the bud as quickly and easily as possible, even if doing so means pissing off a lot more people than they would have otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/17 "2010-03-11T16:31:34Z")
Maybe they were just concerned about the effects of second-hand lesbianism. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/18 "2010-03-11T16:37:25Z")
I’m sure someone in the neighborhood has a barn or something that could be used for the dance if the school won’t sponsor it. Of course, if they do that then John Lithgow might show up and try to ruin it for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/19 "2010-03-11T16:58:01Z")
Hasn’t there been a trend of alterna-proms anyhow? Yes, I know, there’s a new trend announced every time some magazine columnist runs out of real shit to comment about, but it is not unknown for students to arrange their own events. This would be a dodge against either school policy or ACLU interference. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108/20 "2010-03-11T17:10:29Z")
If you want a better article about it, check the local paper [here](http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20100311/NEWS/3110346/Itawamba+prom+nixed+after+controversy+). This whole thing just makes me sick. First Ceara Sturgis, who just wanted to wear a tuxedo for her senior picture: she was denied that, and the school ended up not even putting her picture in the yearbook. And now this. Damnitall, I love Mississippi, but there are parts of the state that have gotta come into the 21st century. I just pray this doesn’t make her a target for retaliation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-school-cancels-prom-to-avoid-lesbian-student-bringing-a-date/532108.md?page=2)