When School Districts Lie to Trick Their Gay Students

Constance McMillen is the 18-year-old student who went to court to protest her school's decision to cancel prom, rather than let Constance show up with her girlfriend. And like most judges with even a dollop of common sense, the judge in the case found that Constance's high school — Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi — violated Constance's rights by nixing prom to punish gay students.

But the evil deeds of this school and this school district are far from over. As firedoglake describes it, Itawamba Agricultural High School might just be the meanest high school in the entire country. Why?

Well, after the prom was canceled, an alternative private prom was arranged. Constance and her girlfriend, as well as the entire eligible student body of Itawamba Agricultural High, were invited to attend. And last Friday when the prom took place, a whopping seven people showed up, despite a student population of hundreds. What gives?

Turns out that the whole she-bang might have been a ruse. While Constance, her girlfriend and seven students showed up for this alternative prom, another secret prom was allegedly being held nearby for everyone else. And rumors are flying that the school and school district — which were so quick to trample on Constance's equal rights — played a major hand in arranging for this exclusive, members only prom.

If that's all true, then you can count Itawamba Agricultural High School as the perfect role model for students — the perfect role model to show students that lying, manipulation, discrimination, and toying with the emotions of students will get you far in this world.

The Mayor of Fulton, Mississippi told the Clarion Ledger on April 1 that he'd like to see the controversy over the gay prom end soon. Guess that was an April Fool's comment, given the alleged shady tactics the school district used in tricking Constance and eight other folks into attending a sham prom.

"We would kind of like to see this end as soon as possible," Mayor Paul Walker said. "We've been hammered pretty good." (No, not that Paul Walker. If it was, you can rest assured Fulton's population would be far more than 4,000!)

No offense to the Mayor, but if you want a controversy to end, you should get on your school board administrators and tell them to stop messing with the lives of LGBT students. There's a reason, after all, that you've been hammered pretty good, and it has nothing to do with the actions of Constance McMillen, and everything to do with how school board administrators sacrificed their student body in the name of "family values." Some family values they're showing.

Here's a message for Constance, her girlfriend, and the seven other students that showed up to what they thought was an alternative prom last week: by standing up for your convictions and each other, you've shown an entire country that no matter how young you are, you're never too young to stand up against prejudice and inequality. While your school district, some of your classmates, and their parents trick you, rest assured that the nearly half a million people who support you on Facebook, not to mention the thousands of people who have sent emails to your school district, have got your back.

Meanest school district in America?  You could probably say that. But I'd rather label it the saddest school district in America, if these allegations prove true. They blew an opportunity to unite students rather than divide them. And they'll come out of all of this with a national reputation somewhere between salmonella and e coli.

Photo credit: Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to the Prom