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[bacasper]

I'm guessing she wouldn't have fit in that tux anyway!

Miss. prom canceled after lesbian's date request

Updated 3/11/2010 8:51 PM
By Chris Joyner, USA TODAY

JACKSON, Miss. � A Mississippi county school board announced Wednesday it would cancel its upcoming prom after a gay student petitioned to bring a same-sex date to the event.

"Due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events, the Itawamba County School District has decided to not host a prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School this year," school board members said in a statement.

UPDATE: ACLU files suit against school

Constance McMillen, an 18-year-old senior at Itawamba, recently challenged a school policy prohibiting her from bringing her girlfriend as her date to the April 2 prom. McMillen, who is a lesbian, and the Mississippi chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union urged school officials to reverse the policy both on McMillen's choice of date and attire. She also wanted to wear a tuxedo to the dance.

ACLU attorney Christine Sun said her organization receives requests for help every year from students facing anti-gay prom policies. The complaints are especially prevalent in the South where attitudes toward sexuality are more conservative, she said.

In the announcement, the school board encouraged the community to organize a private prom. "It is our hope that private citizens will organize an event for the juniors and seniors. "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this causes anyone," the statement concluded. School officials did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The announcement alarmed McMillen.

"Oh, my God. That's really messed up because the message they are sending is that if they have to let gay people go to prom that they are not going to have one," she said. "A bunch of kids at school are really going to hate me for this."

School officials told McMillen last month that she could not bring her sophomore girlfriend to the prom and also told her she could not wear a tuxedo. The school then circulated a memo that prohibited same-sex dates.

more at link

[bacasper]

Constance goes to prom, but most of her classmates go to another one

Ken Williams - SDGLN Editor in Chief | Mon, 04/05/2010

FULTON, Miss. � Constance McMillen and her girlfriend made it to the �prom� over the weekend.

Only seven other students showed up at the dance Friday night at Fulton Country Club, according to several reports.

This morning, word is leaking out that most of Constance�s classmates at Itawamba Agricultural High School (IAHS) attended a �secret� prom to which she and her girlfriend were not invited.

This morning, SDGLN contacted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) headquarters in New York trying to verify Internet gossip that the country club �prom� was nothing more than a ruse to keep Constance and her girlfriend from the �real prom.�

�We don�t know for sure whether it was a ruse. But I can tell you for sure that the event that the school had said was the prom for all juniors and seniors at IAHS was very sparsely attended and there was only a handful of other IAHS students there while Constance was there. Beyond that we�re still trying to find out more about what the whole story is,� said Chris Hampton, public education associate for the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and AIDS Project.

On the Facebook page �Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom!� was this notice this morning:

�On Friday night, Constance and her date went to the prom the school had said would be held for all IAHS juniors and seniors, only to find an event that was very sparsely attended, as detailed in this blogger's account. Constance tried to make the best of it and had a nice evening with the other students from her school who attended, but is of course disappointed that so few of her classmates were there.�

The back story

Constance asked the IAHS school board for permission to bring her girlfriend to the school prom, and was denied. She and the ACLU sued.

U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson ruled that Constance�s constitutional rights were violated in the case � a decision that potentially could favorably impact LGBT students nationwide. However, Davidson denied a motion for a preliminary injunction to force the school to hold the prom, largely because parents had organized a private dance instead and district officials had testified that Constance and her girlfriend were invited to that event.

Parents then organized a private prom, but canceled it early last week when it became known that Constance and her girlfriend were not invited to that one.

Yet another group of parents then hastily organized the country club prom and invited Constance and her girlfriend to attend.

Meanwhile, the lesbian teens are invited to an all-inclusive dance planned in Mississippi.

San Diego-based Empowering Spirits Foundation and the Safe Schools Coalition of Mississippi are sponsoring the May 8 prom in Fulton, Miss., that will be open to all students regardless of sexual orientation.

[.38 Special]

Ah ha! The classic switcheroo maneuver. This is indeed a cunning school district. Also meaner than a cement mixer full of rattlesnakes.

[Senior]

[Mod Edit] move from the school. But, why didn't she just register her date as "Chad Milton", then show up with Charlene Milton. Would anyone have even noticed?

[bacasper]

[geldedgoat]

Hmmm... So she pissed off a great many of her fellow classmates, and in response the students organized a separate prom without her? Or she pissed off the school district, and in response the school district organized a separate prom without her?

[Fox]

[kabrams]

[Jeonmunka]

Maybe we (guys) should attend every lesbian event and if denied entry sue.

[JMO]

[conrad2]

Whats the problem? She had her prom. The normal kids had their prom.

[Fox]

[geldedgoat]

[kabrams]

[djsmnc]