Because that’s the state we’ve been discussing in this thread.
Nope.
Lots of them. Not sure what the point is though.
OK, so we agree then.
“Buzzkill” was aimed at the haters.
Well, I wondered why you would pick Mississippi over other states. By the way, that wasn’t meant in an accusatory way. I’m just curious.
I wondered if there was something about Mississippi as compared to other places you had been, that made you feel it was more homophobic.
We agree that it is a place with a lot of very conservative people who are afraid of “teh gay”. I still wonder how anyone would know whether or not people here are more homophobic than any other state. I think there are lots of homophobic spots around the country, and that it would be difficult to single out one state as being the worst.
I dunno, I think we could at least take a stab at it, if we could find a per-capita ranking by state of anti-LGBT violence. (Obviously, the numbers would be skewed by reporting–someone in a particularly problematic area might be even less likely to report a hate crime to avoid retribution–and state/local laws.) A quick Google didn’t turn up anything useful for me, though.
I would think a few factors in combination would be best. Would one of them be religion? That’s why I was curious about the percentage of Baptists here. I think Baptists tend to be anti-gay.
By the way, I was talking about this with my 21-year old son last night. He remembers going to HS (here in Central MS) with a few gay folks. He couldn’t remember if there were any gay couples at prom, though. He seemed to think nobody would have made a big deal about it. I’m curious about that, I am going to ask my other kids too.
Maybe they should send missionaries to Mississippi to make them ‘civilized’: “Now just because their skin is a different color doesn’t mean you can shoot them with a poison dart”.
What color would that be? 
As of 2008, Mississippi has an estimated population of 2,938,618[1]. Mississippi’s population has the largest proportion of African Americans of any U.S. state, currently nearly 37%.
I found some other neat things:
The 2000 United States census counted 4,774 same-sex unmarried-partner households in Mississippi.[33][34] Of these, 2,521 are male partner households and 2,523 are female partner households. 41% contained at least one child. South Dakota and Utah were the only other states in which 40 percent or more of same-sex couple households had at least one child living in the household.[34] Mississippi has the largest percentage of African-American same-sex couples among total households. The state capital, Jackson, ranks tenth in the nation in concentration of African-American same-sex couples.
All of that stuff is from the Wikipedia article on Mississippi. Not that it’s any great source, but just wanted to identify where it came from.
The federal court heard the request for a preliminary injunction against the school district and denied it.
However, the opinion denying it was very supportive of the plaintiff, and does not bode well for the school district should the student choose to seek damages. The opinion basically said, “The same-sex couple has every right to attend; the school’s claim that it simply withdrew sponsorship instead of ‘canceled’ the prom is bullshit; and the only reason I’m not ordering the school to reinstate the prom is that a bunch of private citizens stepped up to put on an alternate prom, which will be open to all.”
Ah - gotcha ya.
Well, then, you’ve crossed the line between “having an open mind” and “having a gaping hole in your head and letting your brains fall out”.
Well, yes, just as we don’t generally get people silly enough to say “The Earth is 6000 years old but God made it look like it’s five billion to test our faith”.
(Admittedly, the two statements aren’t quite equivalent – one is a statement of opinion, the other is a judgment of objective fact.)
Would love to, but the past will not die peacefully. It must be bludgeoned into the grave and then buried while still kicking and screaming. Even then we must be vigilent for zombies for two or three generations. Add to that the groups that will go out and dig the fear and prejudices up to spread them anew. Peaceful is a lovely idea, it just ain’t gonna happen.
Every social advancement in the past century demonstrates this. From desegregation to women’s suffrage to interracial marriage.
I’m surprised that Mississippi is worse than Northern Arkansas. It completely overwhelmed me to see how much more accepting people are of homosexuality everywhere else. I though I was being progressive when I said “Let the homosexuals do what they want.”
Here’s an update:
McMillen: I Was Sent to Fake Prom
Such assholes. As has been pointed out, Constance comes out ahead in the end. She stands up for herself and her girlfriend, gets publicity against bigotry and for tolerance, gets a scholarship, and is an inspiration to gay kids everywhere.
…
…
…
… so all our hopes were up for nothing?
…
I’m MORE shocked that they would be sent to a “fake” prom than that the original was cancelled. This is absolutely fucking horrible.
I don’t understand exactly what’s going in here. From the past apragraph of the linked article:
So what’s the reality? Was there a secret “real” prom and a fake “lame” prom? Was there going to be a secret prom, that was canceled when she found out about it? Did she go to the real prom, and almost everyone else boycotted it?
Unless no-one likes her I find it difficult to understand how they could keep it a secret like that from her - an entire town and no-one blabbed?
I suspect that people who did like her are being pressured to avoid her; peer pressure is awful at that age. Or maybe her friends weren’t invited. Considering how much very bad press the town is getting, I suspect everyone at that school but her is getting all kinds of heat from their parents and other friends to stay away from her. That poor gal.
Note that they also sent a couple of learning-disabled teens to the “fake” prom as well. Apparently they discriminate against more than lesbians.
Just when you think this can’t get any more ridiculous, it does. I’m glad Constance McMillen is being a mature adult about the situation, because the actual adults aren’t coming close.
No no no, you’ve got it all wrong. Lesbians are retarded. Jesus, they’re not THAT close-minded. :rolleyes:
So is there going to be legal fall-out from this additional dastardly trick?