The Oregon Faith Report - Faith News from Oregon

“They have a right to impose reasonable regulations in an event that the school itself is sponsoring, and they have a right to enforce reasonable regulations and restrictions on conduct” Absolutely! BUT what is in question is: are the regulations established, and enforeced, “reasonable?” That is the question that must be resolved! Frankly the behavior of the school board is very unreasonable!

i do think the school did the only thing they could do … cancel the thing … think about it.. Parents who do not want the girl and her date around their kids are going to be badgering… same thing for parents who really care more about just having the prom… they all have their equal rights with the school in the center… hello if i’m in the center of a conflict and i have what they want …forget it.. i’m keeping my stuff and to blazes with everybody else. They have no choice but to level off the playing field … girl doesn’t get her date ..she’s hurt, and the others dont get their prom … they’re hurt … hello .. only way to go

the hotel that is now offering to do the same prom for them is not being logical… not everyone of those kids will be there, and even if most of them are , the only probable reason would be because their parents have no clue they are…You are encouraging this kids to disobey, not respect and defy their parents… and you wander why the crime rates are going higher… destroying the home indirectly.

The school board is totally in the wrong. The school itself is in the wrong. That’s discrimination, and /does/ violate her rights as a human being. This whole issue is infuriating, and the gay community will not stand for this.

Why is this happening now? I do not see this exploding in other school districts. There has got to be a good solution somewhere.

I find this type of behavior to be outrageous. She wants to just go to the prom with the person she loves, just like every other kid there who is under the influence of young puppy love. But because the person she loves has a vagina as oppose to a penis, they take away her rights. That is very disheartening. How will children every learn to be open about who they are if the world wants them to hide it, just because it’s different from what they’re used to.

The school is under no obligation to host a prom if it becomes a distraction to the educational process which is the school’s real job.

I think the school board made the perfect decision.

Very well put Joe!!

I still struggle with the concept that sexual lifestyle is something we spend so much time with. What about those who chose to abstain, shouldn’t they be “protected” too? Or those who chose to be faithful in a marriage?

Kay shindler, your comment is horrible and cruel. You’re actually arguing that some parents have the right to ostracize students they don’t like and prevent them from attending public school events? You’re actually arguing that the right of one student to be treated equally needs to be somehow balanced against the “right” of some other students (and their parents) to make her go away because they don’t like her? At a public school?

You’ve got to be kidding me! That’s disgusting.

I think the US needs to stop teaching that there is actually equality to all that is the problem. Think about how that poor child feels about the turnout of something that should have never been an issue if there were in fact equal rights to all. I admire someone so young standing for her rights to be treated equally at a public place in the country of free down and equality.

This school is not unlike the Catholic Church on taking away benefits from ALL their Catholic Charities employee’s spouses because they didn’t want to give Gay employees the same rights. It’s PUNISH THEM ALL, AND HOPE THEY WILL HATE THOSE WHO CAUSED IT! Sorry to say, but this may work for the ignorant, bigoted individuals who wants division over unity, but I believe the young students are much more enlightened to Gays being born Gay! This technique of division to create hatred is practiced by the “bad girls” in low budget movies. This is reality. I believe the people of Mississippi will raise above the hateful discrimination, condemnation and crucifiction of Gay people created different by God … they know the power of WHAT ONE SOWS, SO SHALL THEY REAP!

Regardless of one’s view of gay discrimination, we should recognize Constance McMillen’s courage to stand-up for her rights in MISSISSIPPI of all places. A state not known for civil rights or civility.

“What about those who chose to abstain, shouldn’t they be “protected” too? Or those who chose to be faithful in a marriage?”

Chris – how many schools canceled events because abstinent or faithful people wanted to attend openly?

Joe, I agree with you. If it’s that big of a distraction then just don’t have it. The kids education is more important than anything else. Why does the world think that everything should be fair? Life is not fair, we used to have no problem dealing with that everyday. There is no possible to legislate complete fairness for all so why are we trying?

Chris, just how many high school students do you know who are married? Sorry Joe but the school board made a horrible decision. They did this to try and get the other students and the town to ostracize her. They even stated, that their goal was to get a private group to sponsor it, where they could invite who they want. The did this because they know the are legally in the wrong as a public school. Well now the gentleman, in New Orleans, will give them a prom and he is not so mean spirited as to exclude her.

The school has no business even *having* a policy regarding the matter of a prom date. And attire? Hello, this is a prom for the kids, not for the school board. The school board’s rules were not only wrong, they were illegal. And their choice to cancel the prom was really bright: they think the problem *they* caused will just go away? What about next year?
And Joe, you’re just numb. You think that *canceling* the prom made “the educational process” run smoother?

I think that all of you are idiots.

Kay Shindler and Lisa V are DISGUSTING! CONSTANCE should be able to have a prom! The school district HAs no right to cancel and is hiding behind saying that it is distracting. YEAH RIGHT. This is CHURCH And Relgion interfering with church seperation from state. THE church needs to mind its own business and stop being GROSS. Go gay rights and civil rights. and anyone that doenst think she should go to the prom is a shithole and has a bad disgusting gross soul!!!!!

Imagine if a BLACK male student wanted to bring their WHITE female partner to the prom AND THE SCHOOL SAID NO!
People would be HORRIFIED at the DISCRIMINATION. It was not always the case. History people, learn from our history.

Joe is naive or willfully ignorant when he says the prom should be cancelled if it becomes a distraction to the educational process. Hello? Proms are a distraction! So is football and cheerleading! But we as a society generally encourage social development and sportsmanship. If Joe’s strategy is to minimize distractions, then the school board should have kept out of who-brings-who-to-the-prom, and everyone would have been less distracted, except some fire and brimstone radical.

It wasn’t so long ago that mixed raced couple would have cause the same result, except the darker skinned one would have also ended up dead. How can we learn so little from history?

Everyone is equal as long as you believe what we believe and live how we want you to live. Its great that we’re persecuting people who are different, when America was created just to escape England’s persecution. And why did England persecute those people? Oh yeah, they’re beliefs were different then what was considered “normal” two hundred years later, the sins of the father have been passed on.

I moved from Jackson MS to California many years ago. Have chaperoned several school dances in Cali where they had gay couples. Nothing happened, nobody exploded, it was just kids having fun. Seems the parents are into the hate game in Miss. This was the same hate game back in the 60s when the first black students wanted to come to the “white” prom. They came and the kids had fun. Lots of parents were really pissed at the time. Hate for something different can only last so long. I still see it at times when I go back to Miss. but never see it in Cali.

Okay–here’s my 2 cents. Girls and guys attend proms all the time without dates of the opposite sex. You don’t have to have a heterosexual date to attend a prom. What irritated the school board is that this couple wanted to be “known” as gay by having one of the two wear a tuxedo. Hello! Everybody already knows that they are gay!

Hey–I’m totally pro-gay. But the way I see it–all the school board had to do was stick to their guns on the dress code, and have the prom. All the girls had to do was to go with the dress code, and attend it. But no, both sides have to seek confrontation and have it end up in court. It’s totally stupid on both sides.