My understanding is that the girls were allowed to attend, provided they both wore evening gowns and had a male companion. I don’t think there was anything stopping them from simply finding a couple of understanding guys to take them, then just going off and doing their own thing once they got to the formal (that’s what at least one lesbian couple did at one of my high school formals, FWIW).
Of course, one of them would have had to wear an evening gown instead of a tux but personally I’d call it a pretty fair compromise for the most part- certainly a lot better than having no formal at all because people are being unreasonable stick-in-the-muds about something.
Much like here- I don’t share a lot of my opinions on subjects because I know most people on these boards disagree with me and there’s only so often I can tolerate getting piled on or flamed for having the “wrong” opinions, so I usually keep them to myself.
And to reiterate the point I was making earlier, it’s certainly interesting that it’s not OK to agree with, much less acknowledge the schools point of view on the subject, but it is OK to write off an entire state as being completely full of uneducated, queer-hating rednecks. Like I said, approved opinions and all that.
I don’t know you terribly well as a poster, although I remember your name from a few discussions here and there. But having read your posts in this thread, I really think you’ve got a bit of a persecution complex going.
Haven’t checked to see if you’ve been Pitted, but I don’t recall any general drive to have you banned from the SDMB for having “wrong” opinions. If you have an opinion many people disagree with, they’re going to say so. Deal with it. But you don’t have to go away, and I for one wouldn’t urge you to.
Your fixation on this sounds like you doth protest too much, as the saying goes. I think you want to see yourself as some kind of message board martyr. Say what you want to say, and if people don’t agree, tough. But there’s no “thought police” here, and nobody requires you conform to anything other than the basic rules of the board (no personal insults in various forums, etc.).
On the particular issue under discussion, I disagree with you. I think it’s a good instinct in general to look for the merits of both sides. But from what I can tell, there’s very little good to be said about the school’s position. This girl seems to have been treated poorly, and I’m glad she’s not piping down and taking it quietly.
**Martini **you have an unpopular opinion here and you are expressing it. You haven’t been banned, you haven’t been told to stop expressing your opinion by anyone with any authority. Whining about how certain opinions aren’t tolerated here makes no sense whatever. It’s an excuse, and a pathetic one. It’s also a monumentally ironic complaint to make in the context of this thread topic.
PS I agreed with something you posted the other day. I can’t remember what now. But for the record
So does anyone know what exactly is gonna happen now? Is there going to be an alternate prom? When is this prom, anyway? Isn’t it way too early for proms?
I came to the party late here- My two cents as someone who is usually a Neanderthal on GLBTetc issues is that the School officials should grow up, do the prom & let the two girls go. BUT that when it became apparent that the prom was going to be cancelled, the girl should have grabbed the chance to play the hero, taken one for the team & withdrawn, saving the prom. While the school officials are the real assholes, the two girls have unfortunately made themselves targets for being called “the dykes who got our prom cancelled” instead of “the cool lezzies who stuck it to the Man”.
Some wealthy person has offered money to pay for a private prom where all are invited. How the students would organize too accept or refject this offer without the cooperation of the school I’m not sure.
It wouldn’t surprise me if some local chirch also offered space for a prom that keeps the gays out, but that’s just a guess on my part.
I’m very doubtful that the school would un-cancel the prom if she backed out, because the ACLU has sued complaining that the school canceled the prom in an attempt to suppress the girls’ freedom of expression, and un-canceling would essentially confirm that POV.
Including the lesbian couple? Bravo. Good on him/her. Does he/she even have students attending the school or is it purely out of the kindness of his/her heart?
Oh, it’s way too late for her to do that now. She should have had that in mind the very moment the decision was announced. That would throw it back into their hands & get any appearance of blame off of her.
Well, first of all, there shouldn’t be any blame attached to her. And secondly, her backing off is a kind of admission that she caused the problem. And lastly, maybe someone needs to sue this school district into the 21st century.
My experience - **as someone who actually, you know, has a teenager attending high school in Mississippi **, and as a parent who had three other kids graduate high school here - is that it depends upon where the ladies fit within the social structure of the school student body. If they are already well accepted and have friends, the other kids will all feel solidarity with them and support their desire to attend prom together. If not, then they will be picked on for “causing prom to be canceled”. Probably just like any other high school in America.
Your guest should meet the following criteria:
May be in grade 9 or 10 at IAHS
May be in grade 9-12 at another school
May be a college age student
Must be of the opposite sex
Prom doesn’t get canceled over the homoqueers in other places. There were same sex couples at my prom, and nobody canceled, or threaten to cancel, it. Nobody cared.
You (or I) can’t possibly know what transpires in every high school in the nation.
By the way, the last sentence in my quoted paragraph there is referrring to the social life at a typical high school. Not whether or not proms are getting canceled.
In 1982 and again in '85 I attended proms which were also attended by gay and lesbian couples. I imagine there were some at the '83, '84, and '86 proms as well, but I didn’t notice. I noticed those twpo times because the couples in question joined our table.
This is ridiculous and makes the whole school district look positively Neanderthal.
So now I wonder about the nature of the original conversation with the principal. Was she asking for a rule change, or an exception? Had she not seen the memo? If I were her and saw this memo, I would have talked to the ACLU before I even went into the principal’s office.
Please make sure the ACLU has a copy of this memo. Send it anonymously if you prefer.
Oh, and very bizarre that it’s a masquerade ball and they wouldn’t let her wear a tux.
