TREMONT, MS — Same-sex couples at a Mississippi high school won’t be able to go to prom next month, a “discriminatory and unconstitutional practice,” the legal director of the state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says.
Students at the Tremont Attendance Center were asked to sign paperwork agreeing to bring a date “of the opposite sex,” a rule that was emphasized twice in capitalized, bold letters, according to a post on Facebook by Jack McCrory, a Tremont graduate whose niece currently attends the school.
The students’ dates can be no younger than those who are in 10th grade or older than 21 years, according to the rules.
“From the open-minded and tolerant folks of the Tremont prom committee,” McCrory wrote on his Facebook post.
The April 26 prom for students isn’t officially sanctioned by the Itawamba County School District, which in 2010 lost a lawsuit filed by a lesbian student who wanted to wear a tuxedo and bring her girlfriend to prom.
District Superintendent Trae Wiygul told news station WTVA that the district “does not sponsor or endorse proms,” and that the April 26 event is a “private affair hosted by parents.”
However, the school district is still looking into what happened.
“Since this matter allegedly concerns a parent, who is also a teacher, any activity that person may have done during school hours concerning a prom was outside the scope of employment and is being investigated,” Wiygul said.
The teacher is a parent of one of the students who plans to attend the prom, WTVA said.
A parent on the prom committee told WTVA the wording on the consent form was “a mistake” and wasn’t intended to discriminate. The parent, who wasn’t named by the station, reportedly wrote in a Facebook post that the committee’s intent was to limit the crowd amid reports that students without dates planned to buy tickets for random people.
School District Sued Over Issue Before
The ACLU of Mississippi Legal Director Joshua Tom told Yahoo Lifestyle that if the rules aren’t changed, the school might be sued again.
“We’d advise that the county doesn’t repeat its discriminating actions from nine years ago or face legal jeopardy,” he said.
The Itawamba Agricultural High School canceled its 2010 prom after former student Constance McMillen asked to bring her girlfriend, also a student at the school. When she went to the ACLU for help, school officials told her that if they arrived together, but slow danced together, they might be thrown out.
After ruling the school had violated McMillen’s civil rights, a judge ordered the district to create a policy protecting students from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The judge also ordered the school to pay McMillen $35,000 in damages, attorney fees of $67,265 and $14,400 in expenses.
The order didn’t require the school to reinstate the prom, but McMillen and her girlfriend were invited to an “alternative prom.” The ACLU claimed the “decoy” prom was arranged for McMillen and her girlfriend while a parent-sponsored prom for heterosexual students was held in another town.
McMillen became an international celebrity as a result of the attention to her lawsuit.
She appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and was awarded a $30,000 scholarship. She was given the Stephen F. Kolzack Award at the 2010 GLAAD Media Awards, and Glamour magazine named her one of its 2010 Women of the Year. President Obama invited McMillen to the White House to participate in a ceremony recognizing the contributions of LGBT Americans, and she was asked to serve as the grand marshal of the New York City Pride parade in 2010.