I could write a fuller diary, but I just wanted to add anything I could to this issue.
We all know the story of Constance McMillen and her attempt to have the same rights as all other students at Itawamba Agricultural High in Mississippi.
The prom debate went back and forth, and eventually the school said they would sponsor a prom off campus. Constance and from 6 to 11-ish other students attended (at least for a little while) the official prom...but all other prom attendees were elsewhere.
Here are some pics from the non-prom prom put on by the parents that Constance was not invited to. These pics are from different people, but are all from the "alternate" prom...NOT the "official" one that Constance attended:
http://www.flickr.com/... (account now offline)
More pics can be found here. ...except Alison Renae Gaddy finally made it private. Which came a little late.
Here are pics from a local formal and pageant wear shop. I cannot say ALL pics are from the fake prom, but I can see many are, with the same people and with the same prom decorations. Correction, they have taken down their page as well. Believe me...there were some ugly dresses on that page.
Here is their home page. Not really part of the diary per se, but just another connection to prove collusion amongst the teens, and TJ's referred to pics of kids from IAHS as being at a prom.
The kids (and the parents) seem to think they are the ones being "put out", having to accommodate Constance. Oh my, how memories are short. And this occurs after all the talk in the news about bullying in the schools. How would this not be bullying? Constance is strong and has supporters, but what if this happened to a less strong girl trying to figure out who she was? It just makes me ill.
The ACLU is looking into it, so if the parents and kids thought this would end it, they aren't all that bright. Everything they have done to thwart a girl taking another girl to the prom has just shed more sunlight on their bigotry. The parents and Constance's classmates had to plan this, pay for it and set it all up, while being gleeful they are keeping the "lesbo" out. I hope they are proud. That is what they will forever be known for.
There a several related FaceBook groups on the subject.
This one is getting its just desserts: Constance: Quit yer cryin'
Same with this one: NO THANK YOU, Constance McMillen
And here are the non-bigot pages:
Let Constance take her girlfriend to prom!
I support a unified prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School
h/t Lisa Derrick, Bruce Katz
UPDATE
Accounts that stored pictures were taken down. There is no real point to linking to other pics. Any pics that would have been of use to the ACLU have already been forwarded to them, and kids have now learned that the world outside of Fulton was not happy with their decision to be bigots.
The kids and their parents (and the school board) probably won't change their minds, and are likely to be even MORE entrenched in their beliefs, but hopefully they will think ahead to what will happen when certain actions are chosen, and all other schools will remember this for proms in the future.
If Constance had never been denied the ability to come to her prom with her girlfriend, and one of them in a tux (both against prom rules), none of this would have occurred. No lawsuit, no media attention, no internet attention, and no snarky comments on dresses. Their cunning plan did not end as they had hoped.
(But c'mon...some of those were hideous and many of the girls were pretty despite the horrible dresses)
