Alright, I'm sorry, but that's just... wrong. How can they do something like this to someone? And I think what upsets me more is that they have the support of the community according to the story.
Melanie E.
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Comments
How Sad
Thank God there is a large river between my state and that state. What a bunch of idiots.
Portia
Portia
I Think The ACLU Has A Good Case
I think the ACLU has a good case against the school system because they don't have a legal leg to stand on. This school system is a public school that operates on taxpayer money. They are violating her rights by using their religious leanings to make a decision like that. They are not a Catholic school or any school directly funded by the tuition paid by the students. They need to file for an injunction that would force the school system to hold the prom and allow the girls to attend without fear for their safety. The way school systems are hurting for money these days, the idiots can ill afford to pay out an enormous lawsuit for discrimination. The school system should be given a choice. You either allow the prom to go on and include the girls or be sued for an amount that will make you think twice about pulling this stunt ever again. Violating someone's Civil rights is a serious matter and these bigots should not be allowed to get away with it.
One part of the problem...
...is that bigots tend to seek out school board positions, because they're highly motivated to try to control other people's lives.
Not pointed out in the article is that the school board will cost the people of their district a lot of money in legal fees.
Some districts have been bankrupted.
The same thing goes on over and over when similarly-minded boards try to prevent the teaching of evolution, geology, or almost anything that looks like actual science. They're often the people behind "3-R's" curricula as well, for the same reason. Restrict the schools from teaching anything about thinking skills, and restrict the students to simple maths, spelling, and the ability to decipher a menu at McDonalds.
Cheers,
Puddin'
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
You also have to remember
you are dealing with a very, very out of date bunch in the Deep South of the USA. Between the Bible Belt, and the red necks, they are probably dealing with advanced 1900's mentalities. I'm surprised they haven't been stoned yet. Or ridden out of town on a rail. Tarred and feathered. Or remember that old novel "The Scarlet Letter". And this comment is without reading the story link you provided.
I lived in the south for 17 years.
Moved from Boston, and although I faired very well because of
an innate ability to stand outside most of the problems, needless
to say, on the list of undesirable people, (Swarthy ethnics, any
religion other than Baptist, etc.), I had the honor and privilege
of being at the very bottom of the list! Right below three-legged,
blind hunting dogs with rabies, as it happens.
At one point during some bizarre upsurge of fanatical theological
fervor, there was a list of seven students circulated, intended to
warn all the parents that these children were unsuitable, and should
not be allowed to associate with their children because we were not
'Saved.' The list comprised all seven of the Roman Catholic students
in the area. It was a teacher at the school who was distributing the
list - among others.
It's sad to say, but even in this day and age, this does not really
surprise me. I will say, that I think that the school board just
put their foot in it well and truly. By cancelling the prom, they
have created a hostile environment that poses a danger to the girl, and
would seem to completely open them up to not only civil litigation,
but to federal civil rights charges as well, i.e., criminal charges.
It will be interesting to watch the fallout from this. It will be
even more interesting to find out if anyone in authority will care
enough to hand them their own livers.
Sad that a prom, a backdrop that is so popular in so many stories in
the genera, is in reality a blood-soaked battlefield in the ongoing
war of Man's inhumanity to Man.
Sarah Lynn
Umm...
I kinda live in the middle of a lot of that as well, being an Arkansan born and raised, and despite how much Edeyn tends to pick on the way I "tawk" I like to think I'm not quite THAT disconnected from the rest of the world. Having said that, though, the South does have some problems with acceptance of anything and anyone that doesn't fit their predefined definition of good people. I actually had a teacher pull me aside and ask me if I was a satanist in high school. Why? Because I was reading a Harry Potter book. Seriously.
I have several friends in the LGBT community here who have faced problems with people doing some cruel things to them because of their sexuality, but nothing that could compare to this. When I found the story, it made me sit back and gasp because of how extreme it was. Should I have been surprised as I was? Probably not, considering that even my own high school had a rule that couples had to be boy-girl to attend functions together, but it still shocked me a great deal.
Some times, I really don't understand people.
Melanie E.
The part that gets me...
Is that her DAD seems to think it's her fault!
As I said in response...
to another blog on this topic. Mississippi has a LONG history of discrimination, and many residents are proud of this fact. *sighs*
A good example, one of the individuals that was a driving force in the state's ban on same sex marriages has a lesbian daughter.
I got a wonderful surprise to discover that my parents both still accept me, after I came out to them last Autumn... Not so sure about my brother. He's not acknowledged my existence since I came out to him. I guess that's better than a direct attack.
But, bigotry is alive and well across that state. And, despite that fact, there are people there, and from there who are among the most open and accepting I've ever met.
Annette
GOOD GRIEF !!!
ALISON
Whatever happened to American Democracy and 'The Land of the Free'???
ALISON
Rules, and the folowing thereof...
Sadly,too much of the commentary @ yahoo is people complaining that >she< ruined the prom for the straight students, and wondering why she couldn't just "follow the rules". For the record, the >board< was "breaking the rules" when they instituted the same-sex policy, and the >board< ruined it for both the straight >and< the gay students when they decided to cancel Christm... er... the prom, rather than follow the rules. IMO, she was right to challenge the rule that she did, they were stupid to challenge the one that they did. She, and the rest of the students, will live just fine without a prom, the board won't do so well with the CR ruling against them.
-Liz
P.S. For the Facebook-inclined, here >should< be a link to a group to support Constance, and her fight to go to the prom. (If it doesn't work... well, I guess I goofed. ^^; Find the right link yourself?)
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
My biggest concern...
...as Edeyn pointed out...her father doesn't even support the girl. And even though it's the school board's cowardly decision to avoid the subject altogether (which they really aren't) she's going to be the one taking the heat for this. It will be all her "fault," just as if she had closed down the prom herself, when nothing could be further from the truth. Pray for this poor kid and her friend.
Dio benedica la mia bella amici
Love, Andrea Lena
Actually...
...I didn't get that supposed lack of parental support from my reading of the article. She said, "My daddy told me that I needed to show them that I'm still proud of who I am[.]" That sounds to me, more, like he does support her, but knows, rightly, that she's going to have to face this eventually, and so is trying to help her get past the first steps. Which will be hard. Running away from this trouble won't help her, though, and might even make her even more of a target for those who will be inclined to blame her without the support of the homophobic mob (i.e. those who would incite said rabble against her). She didn't do anything wrong. Why should she be "forced" to hide from the school, as though she had? At least, that's the way >I< saw it. I could be wrong...
Either way, may she have all the strength of our joined convictions, and the the hope of each of us for her to carry her through what will be a very, very hard time ahead.
And may her detractors reap the full value of their own hate and self-fear...
-Liz
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
Same here
That's the same way I took it, that Dad is encouraging her to stand up for herself, and not run from a problem. It's tough to stand up in the face of mass bigotry, if you try to hide it just becomes worse.
The school board and it's supporters are wrong, both morally and legally.
They know they can survive
To reply to me...
...I read an article that didn't include the quote as I expect others may have as well. In reading the quote, which was likely left off several accounts by different news services, the girl actually has the support of her family, as Liz pointed out. This happens frequently, sometimes driven by the reporters agenda, and sometimes driven by space considerations. Either way, it's good to see. I still fear for her, however.
Dio benedica la mia bella amici, Andrea
Love, Andrea Lena
Fair
To be fair about the whole thing I think the whole story needs to be posted before giving an opinion on it cause otherwise I am concern that this could become a hot issue that might upset the owner of the site causing her to shut it down. And I for one would hate to have this site shut down again cause people weren't paying attention.
Arina
Technically
Posting the entire story here would be a violation of the AP's copyright. I say AP because virtually every copy of this story I saw followed the original AP Wire story, with more or less details depending on how ham-handed the editor was and how much space he/she had to fill.
Fair use would allow a couple of lead sentences with a link to the entire story below it, such as Yahoo News does.
Does saying AP WIRE give away how old I am? Somewhere around here I still have a UPI visor placard from when I worked at the newspaper. In those days the wire stories came off teletypes on about six inch wide paper and a quick check with a printers ruler would tell you how much column space the story would take up. Too long, and you ripped it off what you needed and sent it on to the Composing Room to be set.
They know they can survive
Meant
That is not what I meant when I title the subject as Fair. I was saying fair as in to post stuff here that can be polically motativated, is unfair to people who come here to enjoy the stories that many Authors put up here. Cause all discussions like this can set the wrong type of people off in to verbal fights. Which will make people like Erin who owns and even run the site to get upset. And then she shuts it down and who knows maybe for good with the next fight. And I for one do not want that. I honestly think the ones that chose to reply to me only read the subject and not the content of what I wrote. Cause I saw more then one reply to me. So again be fair to others and post stuff like this in some dicussion board and not here I would hate to have this site shut down.
Arina
What's allowed
Erin permits and even encourages civil discussion of topics that are relevant to the website. Let me restress that - civil discussion. Within limits. Some topics are just too loaded and will be cut off quickly, and sometimes the comments are too loaded. But Erin has repeatedly said she expects us all to act like mature, rational, reasoning adults. I admit it is tough for me, sometimes. :-(
The subject of this blog is certainly appropriate for BC. The gender question affects most all here, and everybody needs to be aware of what is happening around the world. Some years ago I read an article in Rolling Stone magazine about teens and dating, and the writer made the remark that this might be the first colorblind generation, as the group of young teen girls she was following dated without consideration of race. I think she was a bit overoptimistic myself, but I think we can all agree that we all want to work for a future that is colorblind and genderblind.
My sister sent me a journal and entry from a teen girl on DeviantArt.
"If you're straight, you're straight. If you're gay, you're gay. If you're lesbian, you're lesbian. If you're bi, you're not gay/lesbian with one foot out of the closet. What's so fucking wrong with liking both genders?"
http://lexxie28.deviantart.com/art/I-Don-t-Care-157066675
It's a bit of a tough read, as she is apparently not familiar with the use of paragraphs ;-), but go read it and her journal entry from March 15. Smart kid!
They know they can survive
Fair?
"That is not what I meant when I title the subject as Fair."
You did say: "To be fair about the whole thing I think the whole story needs to be posted. . . . "
The Fair Use Doctrine is a term used in the U.S. To quote from Wikipedia: "Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law, and that of many other countries, that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching or scholarship."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
It is a legitimate concern for people like Erin who run websites that are based in the U.S., as it sets a standard for what may be safely posted without incurring legal liabilities. I won't go into the whole discussion, but it affords a certain protection here in the U.S. Other counties are not as liberal in their standards, and that has been used to compel the shutdown of some of the news aggregators (such as Yahoo) in some countries. (I believe France is one example.)
But here in the U.S., "limited use" is permitted, such as my example above and in the post about the DeviantArt member. I make a short quote, one complete sentence is generally considered reasonable, and provide a link so that the entire article may be read on the original website.
So, while this may be tangental to the blog, it is pertinant to your comment. I'm not criticizing you, but using this as an opportunity to provide information some on here may not be familiar with.
Mark
They know they can survive
Lesbian teen sues to force school to hold prom
FYI - The title at the top of the page is a link to the Yahoo news story.
After reading the article.
While I agree with most views stated previously here: that is, descrimination against someone just because they are homosexual or bisexual or tg/ts, etc is clearly wrong. I am trying to understand where both sides are coming from. I think (and I stress-I think) the reason the school board cancelled the prom instead of not allowing the McMillen girl to attend with her girlfriend was 1) to avoid a lawsuit - unless they state it was specifically to prevent her from attending, the ACLU will be hard pressed to prove anything. And 2) they may or may not have counted on the peer pressure afterwards.
As a father, I agree with her father's encouragement to not run, but face it proudly and point out - it was the school board, not her, who cancelled the prom. If the parents take up the offer to have a prom elsewhere, maybe the school board will get the message. As schools often use dances, prom, etc as a form of fund raiser, any sponsers, alumni, supporters and tax payers should express their view points to the school board. After the community discusses it, they have the right to re-elect the current members or elect new ones. While we often disagree with the decisions of other people, we need to remember that we need to protect their right to govern their own community (while protecting all citizens' rights) in order to protect our right to decide for ourselves in our community. We have a right to disagree with each other. And that right is one of things that makes America great.
While great strides in educating the public about these issues have already been made, there is still a long way to go. And that is why I have been reading stories and comments on this sight, and others, for the last 6 months or so (3 weeks on this site)... so that I may better understand these issues. I would really hate for Erin to shut this site down due to political discussions as I have really enjoyed many of the stories I have read here.
Hope you all have a good day.
Mark
That's the catch
"protect their right to govern their own community (while protecting all citizens' rights)"
Protecting the 'rights' of the majority is easy, it's the minority that needs the protection. While ideally an educated, well-informed citizenry would be able to make decisions based on everybody's needs, the sad truth is that the majority may not make good decisions. How many elections in the last 40 or so years have put bad decisions into law, or politicians into power? I'm arbitraily using a cutoff point of 1964, but I'm sure a case could be made for going back to the turn of the century while allowing plenty of finger-pointing by all parties.
When do the rights of a minority outweigh the will of the majority? Just to throw out an early example - Prohibition.
Another Mark
They know they can survive