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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 03/11/2010 : 17:30:12
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Good for this feisty 16-year-old gal, and for the ACLU for sticking up for her against small-town, small-minded Mississippi bigotry! (Hat tip to PZ.) Links are here (AP) and here (CNN), and CNN video here: 
"All I wanted was the same chance to enjoy my prom
night like any other student," said Constance McMillen, 18.
(CNN) -- A Mississippi high school faces a lawsuit over its decision to cancel its prom rather than allow a lesbian high school student attend with her girlfriend.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleges that officials at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi, are violating the student's First Amendment right to freedom of expression.
The ACLU asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi to reinstate the prom.
"All I wanted was the same chance to enjoy my prom night like any other student. But my school would rather hurt all the students than treat everyone fairly," said the student, 18-year-old Constance McMillen, in an ACLU news release. "This isn't just about me and my rights anymore -- now I'm fighting for the right of all the students at my school to have our prom."
At the center of the lawsuit is a memorandum from the school to students, dated February 5, which states that prom dates must be of the opposite sex.
Also, when McMillen expressed a desire to wear a tuxedo to the prom, the superintendent told her only male students were allowed to wear tuxes, according to court documents.
Superintendent Teresa McNeece also told McMillen that she and her girlfriend could be ejected from the prom if any of the other students complained about their presence there, according to the documents.
The prom was canceled after McMillen and the ACLU tried informally to get the school to change its stance.
Officials at the Itawamba County School District were not immediately available for comment Thursday.
. . . |
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 03/11/2010 17:44:45
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2010 : 17:54:04 [Permalink]
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Spunky kid. I wish her well.
As the lyric goes: The times they are a'changin'. Incidents like this one will push them along. The old farts will die off to be replaced by younger people with different outlooks.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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ktesibios
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2010 : 19:00:48 [Permalink]
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What's particularly ugly is that when the school cancelled the prom, they made it clear that they were doing it on her account- an absolutely transparent attempt to provoke her fellow students into retaliating against her for the consequences of their idiot bigotry.
AP story
(BTW, the comments on that story are enough to make me weep. I really hate having my face rubbed in just how widespread this sort of vileness is in our country).
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"The Republican agenda is to turn the United States into a third-world shithole." -P.Z.Myers |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 03/12/2010 : 14:49:14 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by ktesibios
What's particularly ugly is that when the school cancelled the prom, they made it clear that they were doing it on her account- an absolutely transparent attempt to provoke her fellow students into retaliating against her for the consequences of their idiot bigotry.
AP story
(BTW, the comments on that story are enough to make me weep. I really hate having my face rubbed in just how widespread this sort of vileness is in our country). |
Yeah, that's just "kill the messenger"-type evil. It's using the power of the state to create an atmosphere of bullying, even vigilantism. Old Mississippi tradition, that. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2010 : 22:02:55 [Permalink]
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| Now the America Humanist Association is stepping up to provide funding and organization for a private but open Senior Prom. The original official prom was canceled by the bigots of the Itawamba School Board without a clear reason being stated. (Hat tip to Greg Laden.) |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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the_ignored
SFN Addict
2562 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 03:54:31 [Permalink]
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Too bad the ACLU is backing out of it though.
To avoid further controversy, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi has rejected a $20,000 gift intended to underwrite an alternate prom replacing one canceled by a local school district after a lesbian student demanded that she be allowed to attend with her girlfriend.
The gift, to sponsor one of several privately sponsored alternate events, came from the American Humanist Association, an advocacy group whose mission is to promote "good without God."
"Although we support and understand organizations like yours, the majority of Mississippians tremble in terror at the word 'atheist,' " Jennifer Carr, the fund-raiser for the A.C.L.U of Mississippi, wrote in an e-mail message to Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the humanist group. |
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>From: enuffenuff@fastmail.fm
(excerpt follows):
> I'm looking to teach these two bastards a lesson they'll never forget.
> Personal visit by mates of mine. No violence, just a wee little chat.
>
> **** has also committed more crimes than you can count with his
> incitement of hatred against a religion. That law came in about 2007
> much to ****'s ignorance. That is fact and his writing will become well
> know as well as him becoming a publicly known icon of hatred.
>
> Good luck with that fuckwit. And Reynold, fucking run, and don't stop.
> Disappear would be best as it was you who dared to attack me on my
> illness knowing nothing of the cause. You disgust me and you are top of
> the list boy. Again, no violence. Just regular reminders of who's there
> and visits to see you are behaving. Nothing scary in reality. But I'd
> still disappear if I was you.
What brought that on? this. Original posting here.
Another example of this guy's lunacy here. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 04:26:16 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by the_ignored
Too bad the ACLU is backing out of it though.
To avoid further controversy, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi has rejected a $20,000 gift intended to underwrite an alternate prom replacing one canceled by a local school district after a lesbian student demanded that she be allowed to attend with her girlfriend.
The gift, to sponsor one of several privately sponsored alternate events, came from the American Humanist Association, an advocacy group whose mission is to promote "good without God."
"Although we support and understand organizations like yours, the majority of Mississippians tremble in terror at the word 'atheist,' " Jennifer Carr, the fund-raiser for the A.C.L.U of Mississippi, wrote in an e-mail message to Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the humanist group. |
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But wait -- there's more (note the second comment):Sounds like a bureaucratic snafu, maybe being fixed? |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2010 : 19:59:07 [Permalink]
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That is truly disturbing. I hope there are expensive legal consequences for this outrage. Setting up a fake prom to segregate out just the homosexuals and the learning disabled?
I'd like to see that principle in jail. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 17:55:57 [Permalink]
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To the Kids of Fulton, Mississippi:What you did was wrong. It was cruel, and pointlessly cruel. It was stupidly easy and easily the stupidest thing I've seen in a long time. You gained nothing by it. Hell, you didn't even have as much fun as you thought prom should be. And you lost everything.
Remember how you thought about getting out of there and doing something with your life? Forget it. You're one of "those kids from Fulton" now, and everybody knows what you did. Sure, you can find a school to go to, even one away from home, but it's going to be one of those schools that's no good for anything but sending you back where you came from. And Jafsica has a link to a petition from the Human Rights Campaign. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 18:08:23 [Permalink]
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| It is disgusting behavior for a school administration and sad the students didn't receive a better moral education that would compel them to respond differently. SS |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 20:43:15 [Permalink]
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Let's do our some of own research, okay?
Itawamba Agricultural High School's web site is well worth looking at. Pay particular attention to the "Photos" section, especially the "See You at the Pole" (school prayer) page, and the "IAHS Most Beautiful Photos" (girls' beauty contest). No pictures on the "Prom" page.
Study well, and report back here, please.
I'd like to say that IAHS is regressive, but 50 years ago, I did not go to such a horribly backward crap factory. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
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School sued for canceling prom over lesbian
