Like her classmates in Itawamba County School District in rural Mississippi, Constance McMillen looked forward to senior prom all year. Like her classmates, she was excited when she found a special person to go with. Unlike her classmates, however, Constance’s date was another girl.
Constance had been out as a lesbian since eighth grade, and naturally didn’t want to take anyone other than her girlfriend to prom. Unfortunately, the Itawamba County School District said she couldn’t bring a female date, and when sued by the ACLU they cancelled prom for everyone.
So thanks to the edict of one conservative small town school board, there will be no high school prom this year. And by disappointing high school students across the county in their perverse rush to prevent two girls from dancing together, the school board has made their sleepy town an epicenter of the gay rights movement.
Forward to Bleckley County High School in neighboring Georgia. Another conservative southern town, but one that unlike Itawamba has not been in the national press lately. That’s because when out high school senior Derrick Martin asked permission to bring his boyfriend to prom, the school district said yes. High school principal Michelle Masters said. "As a principal, I don’t judge him. I’m taught not to judge. I have to push my own beliefs to the background." Bleckley County residents can sleep soundly knowing that their town won’t even be a footnote in the gay rights movement, which is exactly the way many residents prefer it.
If Rosa Parks had been allowed to sit on a Montgomery bus in 1955, it would have been perhaps another city and another person who were in our history books. Itawamba County's biggest claim to fame had been as the birthplace of country singer Tammy Wynette. Now it will be known as the county that was so offended at young Constance's choice of a date that they cancelled prom for everyone.
It takes more effort to exclude than include. In trying to marginalize an "alternative lifestyle," the Itawamba County School District succeeded instead in attracting even more attention to homosexuality and the county’s own backwardness. As a result of their decision every child in their county and the state is reading about gays and lesbians.
Hopefully some good will come of it and Itawamba’s actions will lead to increased tolerance and respect for our differences, but that won’t recapture the magic of senior prom for this years senior class in Itawamba County.