By now we have probably all heard about Constance McMillen and how her high school cancelled prom. Whie I think that the school did the wrong thing by cancelling prom, I feel that they were fully in their rights.
First of all, as the article linked above says, the school cancelled prom a week after receiving a letter from the ACLU. While barring McMillen from coming to prom in a tux with her girlfriend is discriminatory, cancelling prom punishes everyone equally. I believe that this particular action was taken out of fear of a lawsuit, not discrimination. Second, while, and I will say this again, I think the school was wrong to ban McMillen from attending prom as she wished, it is fully possible they were trying to avoid scandal and angry parents; we have to remember that this high school is in Mississippi, not Chicago. If McMillen and her girlfriend had gone to prom together, it would probably have at least been local news for a while and could have caused trouble for the school's administration.
I feel we also need to remember that while the ACLU is arguing on a basis of equality laws and freedom of expression, institutions, such as schools, do have the right to have dress codes and other rules of conduct. At the very least, not allowing McMillen to go to prom in a tux was fully within the school's rights. Also, the school is under no obligation to host prom. I believe they should just pay back any students that have already bought tickets, end of story; no more arguing, no more chaos.
Now that you have heard my view of this, how do you think should win the case? Should McMillen's lawsuit succeed? Or should the school be allowed to function as usual?
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I actually had not heard of this incident but now that I have I think it's ridiculous. McMillen is right that there probably are other gay people at her school and to discriminate this intensely against them is not fair at all. I can understand if the school is a little bit uncomfortable, and maybe they could ask McMillen to be a little quiet about it, still unfair although, but to cancel the school's prom goes way too far. All this girl wants to do is go to prom and now she is being punished by the school and her fellow students for "ruining senior year".
ReplyDeleteI myself am proud of McMillen for standing up for who she is, she should be rewarded for that, not punished. But I guess it unfortunately depends on the area you live in.
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ReplyDelete"While barring McMillen from coming to prom in a tux with her girlfriend is discriminatory, cancelling prom punishes everyone equally."
ReplyDeleteIt "punishes everyone equally"... Why are they punishing anyone? Because, in the school's view, homosexuality is punishable. That's discrimination. What is McMillen doing wrong by being lesbian or wanting to wear a tux? Absolutely nothing. And by collectively making everyone in the school lose their prom, the school is making an entire student body pay for the school's wrongdoing. To clarify the point I'm trying to make here: while you are saying this school is punishing all equally, there should be no punishment here to begin with, as the school was the one at fault (as you said).
And to say McMillen is being punished equally with everyone else is also inaccurate, aside from the notion of the cancellation being 'punishment' at all. Of course, she has the same tangible "punishment" as everyone else-- no more prom. But less concretely, she has been singled out and denied things because of her sexual orientation and she is, by some of her fellow students, seen as the one responsible for the cancellation of prom. She also has to deal with a lawsuit, which is a pain, although a good opportunity for her in some respects. In essence, her making waves about discrimination that she was the victim of is what led to the cancellation of prom. The burden is more on her than the typical senior.
I can accept the dress code argument to a degree, although I don't think schools should have dress codes and that's probably what the ACLU will argue about in part, but I don't think cancelling prom is within the school's rights at all if, in reality, they only did it because a lesbian student wanted equal rights. Even if they did want to, as you suggest, avoid trouble with parents, the only reason there is trouble to begin with is because they were homophobic. If the student body had acted badly as a whole, that would reasonably warrant the school taking away prom (importantly, I mean this beyond a 'what is technically the law' extent), but what is there to punish in this situation? Kind of like our discussion of sexual harassment in the workplace, this cancellation creates an sort of chill effect for homosexual students.