The Agricultural High School in Mississsippi canceled a prom all because they did not want a student who happens to be a lesbian to wear a tuxedo and bring her girlfriend. McMillen (the student) requested if she could wear a tuxedo and bring her girlfriend to the school officials because in the past couples of the same sex were not welcomed in to the prom. McMillen approached them before a memo went out saying from the school saying that, "School policy requires that senior prom dates be of the opposite sex." The American Civil Liberties Union gave the school district a deadline for them to remove that policy because it violated McMillen rights. The High School refused, so they did what they thought was the next best thing. The High School canceled prom.
Wehn I read this, I was really in disbelief. You just can't cancel a prom all because you don't agree with someone elses beliefs. What is that? What kind of mature decision is that? Out of the choices they had to either remove the policy so not to be brought into court or cancel prom and disappoint not just one person but a whole group of people who were looking forward to their prom. So instead of using common sense, they decided not to let go of their pride and retaliate agains the one, 18 year old student. Now some students are blaming McMillen for the prom cancelation, when realty the school decided to cancel it when they know they could have just let this thing go instead of blowing out of proportion.
Unfortunately the school probably didn't think on how the consequence might affect McMillen. Students might start hazing her, harrass her, and all kinds of negative things because of what a group of school officials have done. The sad thing is that there are still small towns and even states that still think like this that don't think about the consequences. I say deal with it, you can not change someone elses mine by force, have we not learned anything in our history books? You can not think for others, others have different beliefs than you do. Well there is a link at the bottom of this so you can put in on your opinions.
I find this issue to be very distressing. I also read about this issue in an article on USA Today (online). The first thing that caught my eye was a statement made by the school board members, "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." I do not believe the board members realize the implications this statement has on Constance McMillen. It is sending the message across that if they don't believe something is right they don't have to follow the rules and can just cancel an event that is so important to students. Not only this, but people are going to be bitter towards Constance whether it is about her sexuality or that her sexuality cause their prom to be canceled. I think these people need to grow up and stop discriminating against gay people.
I find this issue to be very distressing. I also read about this issue in an article on USA Today (online). The first thing that caught my eye was a statement made by the school board members, "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." I do not believe the board members realize the implications this statement has on Constance McMillen. It is sending the message across that if they don't believe something is right they don't have to follow the rules and can just cancel an event that is so important to students. Not only this, but people are going to be bitter towards Constance whether it is about her sexuality or that her sexuality cause their prom to be canceled. I think these people need to stop discriminating against gay people. It is illegal to discriminate against people based on race, so why is it okay to do it to people with different sexual orientation.
This decision made by the school outraged me. I can’t believe that they wouldn’t allow one student to dress in a tux and bring another girl to prom. For me I can’t see what the big deal is. She can’t help who she likes and she shouldn’t get punished just because of her sexual orientation. To top everything off, the school canceled prom for everyone. I bet students had already brought their outfits, made arrangements and spent a lot of money. If I was the parents I would be severely mad at the school, especially McMillen’s parents. The school board members did not think about what canceling the prom would do to McMillen. This is going to cause her many psychological effects. I bet she feels guilty about ruining prom for everyone. The rest of her student body might start to tease, taunt, or in other words make her life hell. Who knows what this will all do to her self esteem and her mental state. I hope that McMillen and her family take action against the school. I don’t think its right that a school has the power to do this. I think the law needs to get involved so something like this doesn’t happen again, not just in this school, but in others around the world. These board members are not going to change their way of thinking unless the law tells them they have to. I just don’t understand some peoples way of thinking and rationalizing.
Talk about discretion, the school most definitely used it's discretionary power to the fullest. While this most definitely may not have been the most appropriate way to handle the situation they most definitely have the right, especially if it is a private school.
The article did not mention what type of school this was at all, but if it is a public school, parents are members of the school board, and the school board most definitely can take action about the people in power who made the decision.
While I personally have no problem with it, if that is the community standard, don't they have the right to uphold it? It is not a mandatory event, so excluding certain people to attend because they do not meet the requirements is in my opinion not out of line. The line is a bit blurry though, if lesbians dressed up as boys can go to prom, can male cheerleaders dress the same as female for the cheerleading squad?
It is my opinion that if the roles were reversed and this was two gay males, there would not be nearly the amount of hostility towards the issue as there is. A man in a dress made up all pretty is much more controversy provoking than a female in a tux.
Just some things to think about.