Lesbian Teen Denied Access to Prom with Date

A Mississippi School chose to cancel the prom rather than risk having a lesbian teen dressed in a tuxedo attend prom with her female sophomore date. Is this within a school district’s authority or is this discrimination? The ACLU, now representing the teen, Constance McMillen, is suing the Mississippi school, requesting that the prom be reinstated and all students be allowed to attend. According to the school board her request violated the school rule against same sex dates at school activities. In another statement by the same board, the order to cancel the prom was "due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events." In December when Constance spoke to the principal he told her it had to do with the tickets and something about it being cheaper to attend as dates, and they were trying to prevent that. The article notes that the prom was not actually canceled until the ACLU got involved. Based on information in the article, it appears that whatever Constance expected the school board to do, canceling the prom was not it. Now she is concerned about her peers being angry. She also indicated however, that she wants others to know that the ACLU is there for you and you do not have to put up with discrimination. According to the article, apparently the school canceled the prom to prevent interference of the educational process. I believe this has backfired, as Itawamba County Agricultural High School now has national recognition. The following is a link to Constance McMillen’s interview by CBS.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6292187n&tag=mg;mostpopvideo

The article does not address any positive responses from peers or others which are easily accessible on her facebook and elsewhere online. There is also no mention of the fact that the student have been offered an alternative place to hold the prom. Constance father and aunt indicates support, however, one must wonder how the parents of her sophomore date feel about the publicity.

Atheist Group trying to form chapter at ASU

An Atheist Group is trying to form a chapter at ASU in Jonesboro. According to the article, the Atheist Community of Jonesboro was started last January to provide a social and community service outlet for more worldly individuals. Now, their plan is to expand by starting a student chapter at Arkansas State University. The article quotes John Langston, the President of the Atheist Community of Jonesboro. “We Kind of wanted to take that word (atheist) and the problem it represents for us and meet the challenge of changing its meaning head on.” The article goes on to explain that Langston says the chapter was contacted by the secular student alliance in response to a news story that ran in our local university’s newspaper, the Herald. Langston states, “They saw that we wanted to start up this group and we can help you out with that.” As a result, it seems the Atheist group began posting fliers to find out if the interest was there on campus. However, according to Langston, the fliers are being torn down. “There will always be people who want to criticize the way we choose to live and the choices that we make,” says Langston.


In fairness to both sides of the issue, the article goes on to quote the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at ASU, Lonnie Williams. “The signs could have been posted in an area where signs had to be pre-approved or they could have been torn down for the views that they expressed.” According to Williams the university has a non-discriminatory policy, and they are just as welcome as any other student organization. “If they have interest and people of like mind as other students on campus, we are trying to create an environment where everyone strives. Generally you strive and are retaining if there are things on campus that interest you,” says Williams.

The article gave equal opportunity for both sides to speak. It would be interesting to hear a quote from two students from both sides of the spectrum who are actually on campus seeing and feeling what is really occurring as a result of this attempt. It seems a secular student alliance on campus already exists however, adding in the word Atheist may bring more negative connotations than other students are willing to tolerate at this time. In my opinion, Langston has his work cut out for him if he plans to change Christian views of the word Atheist. It is what it is.