No-Gays-Allowed Prom Will Be Held In Tupelo, Mississippi

You remember Constance McMillen, the Fulton, Mississippi girl who asked if she could bring a same-sex date to her high school prom.  After school officials denied her request, the American Civil Liberties Union threatened legal action.  Rather than do the right thing by everybody, the board canceled the entire event.  Young Constance was subsequently subjected to verbal abuse by classmates who accused her of "ruining their senior year."  But she became a hero to LGBT youths across the country for taking a stand against the homo haters in her home town.  Last week Ellen DeGeneres presented McMillen with a  scholarship check for $30,000, saying:  "I admire you so much. When I was your age I never would have had the strength to do what you are doing."

Then school district officials maliciously "encouraged" their own community to hold a "private function" in order to exclude the 18-year-old - which has now occurred. ACLU attorney Christine Sun said she had only heard rumors of the private dance until she read it in a  legal brief filed by the school.

From USA Today:  The school board's response states that parents have organized a private prom at a furniture mart in nearby Tupelo. Now that the school district has withdrawn from the event, any constitutional claims are irrelevant... On one discussion on an Internet bulletin board about the planned prom in Tupelo, a poster who identified himself as a junior at the high school said the prom would be invitation only.  "Constance and her gay-activist friends will not be attending," he said. "They can go have their own prom because we certainly do not want any of them there."  The poster expressed frustration at the attention the issue had brought to the city of about 4,000.

Dan Savage on The Slog:  Constance McMillen didn't have any "gay activist friends" until after the Itawamba County School Board canceled her high school's prom rather than allow Constance to attend with her girlfriend. It was the actions of the Itawamba County School Board that thrust Fulton into the national spotlight... Gee, it's almost as if a school board can't discriminate against a lesbian student with impunity anymore. What is the world coming to?

Hey, since the homophobes in Hooterville are so determined to have their "exclusive" private prom - and since this is the state of Mississippi - maybe they'll decide to exclude black students as well.  And students with disabilities, they're no fun to hang out with.  And all those heathen non-Christians.

Here are a few comments about the story from the right-wing freak-site, Free Republic:

"Should the school allow kids to bring, lets say, sex animals to the prom, too? What if a student is doing his dog? How about blow up dolls or vibrators? Whips and chains? Why stop at one kink? Why not bring it all in and keep it fair?  Where do normal people draw the line? Why corrupt our entire culture because of a few dysfunctional freaks?"
"Bad company corrupts good character. If the ACLU can influence other students with their 'homosexuals are just like you' propaganda, the strength of the family is weakened. Perversion and chaos will follow."
"It was the right thing to do. Should all the students be forced to witness this abomination simply because two demand it? Should a small handfull of sexually dysfunctional people be allowed to change an entire culture in order to serve their own demented fetish?"
"They have the right to run their school as they see fit, if that includes not catering to lesbians, so be it."
"Homosexuality is a legal choice. So is abortion. If two girls wanted to have an abortion at the prom, with proper medical assistance, should everyone else be forced to witness it just because it's legal? Both are individual choices, but neither choice should force other people to have to witness it. They're both below the level of the beasts."
"Why do they think their fetish is more important than everyone else's prom night?"
"Tuxedos are for men, lesbo!"
"You will soon see public high schools no longer sponsoring the high school prom."

I actually agree with that last statement.  There are rural communities across America (and particularly in the Bible Belt) that will view this as the perfect solution to allow them to discriminate against LGBT youngsters while enforcing their "Christian" standards on everybody else.