If it wasn't so mean-spirited, it would be funny...

[Fragony]

What do you mean for "these people". If for "these people" simply showing up is already equivalent to waving a banner and shouting slogans, then perhaps "these people" are the problem and not this girl.

Perhaps "these people" should consider learning some tolerance as part of decent behaviour just as other "people" learned in the past. As long as the girl and her friend do not do anything that would be different from what other couples are doing at the prom I still do not quite see the problem.

As I said the people leading the school are idiots, but she is the one being disrespectful of a valued tradition. It doesn't matter how we look at these things.

[Ser Clegane]

she is the one being disrespectful of a valued tradition.

Again, how is she "disrepspectful"? By simply showing up with her date? I thought the tradition is that you have a romantic evening with your date. Perhaps "these people" are disrespecting the tradition by not allowing her to show up with the date of her choice.
I still do not see how the presence of a gay couple is going to ruin the prom. Why would anybody care? "These people" should spend more time on having a good time with their dates than going "OMG teh gays are ruining the prom".

[Fragony]

Again, how is she "disrepspectful"? By simply showing up with her date? I thought the tradition is that you have a romantic evening with your date. Perhaps "these people" are disrespecting the tradition by not allowing her to show up with the date of her choice.
I still do not see how the presence of a gay couple is going to ruin the prom. Why would anybody care? "These people" should spend more time on having a good time with their dates than going "OMG teh gays are ruining the prom".

You are of course right, but you don't see it from my perspective. You agreed with me had she been waving gay rights signs, how exactly is this any different iff prom is traditionally a boy+girl thing? Who is wrong, the one too fixated on old traditions, or the one not respecting these old traditions, that I will leave to you that's a matter of opinion.

[PanzerJaeger]

What cowards.

If the school administration felt the need to take a stand on sexual orientation - which is not at all their place - they should have disallowed the girl to attend and dealt with the lawsuits and backlash. That would have at least been a principled stand.

But to turn it back around on the 16 year old girl by canceling the prom altogether is just pathetic. It reeks of immaturity and spite. She is going to be tortured for this.

[KukriKhan]

What cowards.

If the school administration felt the need to take a stand on sexual orientation - which is not at all their place - they should have disallowed the girl to attend and dealt with the lawsuits and backlash. That would have at least been a principled stand.

But to turn it back around on the 16 year old girl by canceling the prom altogether is just pathetic. It reeks of immaturity and spite. She is going to be tortured for this.

Fricke v. Lynch. They probably got legal advice to simply cancel the event, rather than either approve or deny McMillan's request. So then the issue becomes, instead of McMillan's Freedom of Speech rights, the "rights" of students to even have a school-sanctioned and -sponsored Prom. Some smart lawyer might (probably will) take up the case, pointing to other school events and extracurricular activities (football teams, debate clubs, etc) getting permission to use school-, that is: taxpayer-owned, facilities. Net result 2 years down the road?

No extracurricular activities at all. Or
membership in activities open to all.

Public education. What a riot.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Fricke v. Lynch. They probably got legal advice to simply cancel the event, rather than either approve or deny McMillan's request. So then the issue becomes, instead of McMillan's Freedom of Speech rights, the "rights" of students to even have a school-sanctioned and -sponsored Prom. Some smart lawyer might (probably will) take up the case, pointing to other school events and extracurricular activities (football teams, debate clubs, etc) getting permission to use school-, that is: taxpayer-owned, facilities. Net result 2 years down the road?

No extracurricular activities at all. Or
membership in activities open to all.

Public education. What a riot.

This is weird. Why should the school pay for prom? Perhaps it's because we live in different cultures but this sounds ridiculous.
In here school gives us our diplomas and that's practically it. If students want a "prom" they will pay for it themselves and usually they don't have it in school territory.

[KukriKhan]

This is weird. Why should the school pay for prom? Perhaps it's because we live in different cultures but this sounds ridiculous.
In here school gives us our diplomas and that's practically it. If students want a "prom" they will pay for it themselves and usually they don't have it in school territory.

Good point. This wiki article looks at Proms and prom-type events in other countries. Everything from state-paid to privately-sponsored. Over here the hundreds of thousands of School Districts (roughly equivalent to a County) set their own standards and policies. Most derive their funding from a combination of local Property Taxes, AND (this is a big "and") subsidies from State and Federal Governments. Those subsidies entitle those gov'ts to dictate policy and standards to the districts and schools.

To me, THAT is the weird part: distant politicians and technocrats in Washington DC and Jackson MS telling a smallish Mississippi school what they can and can't allow. But it sets the stage for Federal Court cases like Fricke v. Lynch; if you take the Fed or State dollar, you dance to their tune.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Frags, frags, frags.
Homophobia is sooo Sudan or Afghanistan.

What cowards.

If the school administration felt the need to take a stand on sexual orientation - which is not at all their place - they should have disallowed the girl to attend and dealt with the lawsuits and backlash. That would have at least been a principled stand.

But to turn it back around on the 16 year old girl by canceling the prom altogether is just pathetic. It reeks of immaturity and spite. She is going to be tortured for this.

Perfectly summed up.

[Fragony]

Frags, frags, frags.
Homophobia is sooo Sudan or Afghanistan.

And Mississipi apparently, that's not the point.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Frags, frags, frags.
Homophobia is sooo Sudan or Afghanistan.

HAHAHAHAH! CLASSIC FRAG!

[miotas]

That schools seems very childish, although I am wondering why she announced her date before hand. At our school formal a homosexual girl arrived wearing a suit with and her girlfriend. She didn't announce it before hand though, she just turned up, she even got up in front of all the students and parents and shook hands with the principal when she got her certificate. Nothing imposing about it at all, as far as I know no one was infected with homosexuality.

[Fragony]

HAHAHAHAH! CLASSIC FRAG!

Would have been had I sided with the school, but I did't.

[johnhughthom]

I'm guessing we haven't heard the full story, couldn't she have just turned up at the event with her girlfriend wearing a tuxedo? Do you have to show a photo of what you are going to wear and who you are going to bring? Seems to me she is not some poor little girl who can't bring the love of her life to her school prom, she probably knew exactly what would happed when she "asked" permission.

Don't get me wrong, the school are still pathetic in my book.

[Rhyfelwyr]

But if they allow gay couples to mix with straight people, then they might be influenced and turn gay.

Like when they allowed blacks to have proms on the same night, and the white kids...

Nah, even I'll admit that this is petty. But at the same time there's no need for the leftist moral outrage, she could just suck it up and respect peoples traditions, the world doesn't have to change just for her.

[Fragony]

Nah, even I'll admit that this is petty. But at the same time there's no need for the leftist moral outrage, she could just suck it up and respect peoples traditions, the world doesn't have to change just for her.

^--- that

If the school administration felt the need to take a stand on sexual orientation - which is not at all their place - they should have disallowed the girl to attend and dealt with the lawsuits and backlash.


This as well.

[Ser Clegane]

the world doesn't have to change just for her.

And again - what exactly would change for the others? How would the prom be in []any[/i] kind different/worse for all the other people if this gay couple showed if with one girl wearing a tuxedo?

Could somebody please point out the key traditional elements of a prom to me? Is "no gay couples" one of these key elements? I thought the key elements were dressing up, dancing closely, planning a nice evening for your date, electing a prom queen, etc. - not sure how any of these things might be negatively affected by this lesbian couple. At least as long as nobody on either side makes a big ruckus of the gay couple coming to the prom. This should not even be a matter of discussion for either side - they should simply go there, like every other couple, behave like every other couple and end of story.

[johnhughthom]

electing a prom queen

Well, I suppose allowing gay couples might change that...

[Fragony]

And again - what exactly would change for the others? How would the prom be in []any[/i] kind different/worse for all the other people if this gay couple showed if with one girl wearing a tuxedo?

Could somebody please point out the key traditional elements of a prom to me? Is "no gay couples" one of these key elements? I thought the key elements were dressing up, dancing closely, planning a nice evening for your date, electing a prom queen, etc. - not sure how any of these things might be negatively affected by this lesbian couple. At least as long as nobody on either side makes a big ruckus of the gay couple coming to the prom. This should not even be a matter of discussion for either side - they should simply go there, like every other couple, behave like every other couple and end of story.

It's just how they see it, nobody is disagreeing with that this is stupid.

[gaelic cowboy]

But at the same time there's no need for the leftist moral outrage, she could just suck it up and respect peoples traditions, the world doesn't have to change just for her.

The world also doesnt need to stay the same for you

[naut]

Mean-spirited indeed. I wholy agree with Ser. Who is getting hurt here if they allow her to go? No one, maybe a few parents get uneasy, but this isn't their event so who cares about them. For me the Dalai Lama says it best:

"If someone comes to me and asks whether homosexuality is okay or not, I will ask, 'What is your companion's opinion?' If you both agree, then I think I would say, 'if two males or two females voluntarily agree to have mutual satisfaction without further implication of harming others, then it is okay.'"

[Meneldil]

she could just suck it up and respect peoples traditions, the world doesn't have to change just for her.

What's that?

[Fragony]

What's that?

Well prom for example. Not so strange they don't like that in Hillbilly-land. She knows it will greatly upset them, that is why she's doing it. The people there aren't ready for this. I don't see the problem, the other kids get their prom, she gets her attention she was looking for, everybody happy. No way the school didn't threaten to call of the prom altogether if she didn't back of. She started rolling on the floor and started screaming, like kids do when they don't get what they want when they want it.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Nah, even I'll admit that this is petty. But at the same time there's no need for the leftist moral outrage, she could just suck it up and respect peoples traditions, the world doesn't have to change just for her.

She has done no wrong in simply asking for what is hers, which is the same rights and treatment as everyone else.

You wouldn't tell Rosa Parks that she's making a stink about where she sits on a bus, and that she should suck it up. It might be a little thing to you, but it is everything to the oppressed minority. It's certainly not your place to tell this girl what rights she's entitled to that she should ignore. There's every need for the moral outrage, just because you aren't the one being systematically mistreated and oppressed, that doesn't mean there isn't an injustice to be corrected.

Edit: Finally read the thread in its entirety, and as others have pointed out, this is a public school, not a private religious function. Everyone's rights are protected there.

[Rhyfelwyr]

She has done no wrong in simply asking for what is hers, which is the same rights and treatment as everyone else.

You mean the right to take a person of the opposite sex to the prom, the same way everyone else does?

lol, I don't really think that, but the school could see things that way.