There's a school in Mississippi that's cancelling the prom rather than let a girl wear a tuxedo and bring another girl. The ACLU is on the case!
That would be the organization which prides itself on defending the Constitution.
Where does it say in the Constitution that you're entitled to a prom? The withholding of which requires firing up the lawsuit machine?
Granted the school's being stupid, and feeding every hush-puppy eating mush-mouth speaking bigot stereotype around, but - so? Is this truly a Constitutional question?
I guess it's clear what I think.
7 comments:
I read yer constitution and Bill of Rights every couple of months. Its an awesome document! Only constitutional think I could find would be yer first amemendment, somthin' about freedom of assembly.
(cut and paste follows)
Although it is not explicitly protected in the First Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled, in NAACP v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449 (1958), freedom of association to be a fundamental right protected by it. In Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U.S. 609 (1984), the Supreme Court held that associations may not exclude people for reasons unrelated to the group's expression. However, in Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston, 515 U.S. 557 (1995), the Court ruled that a group may exclude people from membership if their presence would affect the group's ability to advocate a particular point of view. Likewise, in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640 (2000), the Supreme Court ruled that a New Jersey law, which forced the Boy Scouts of America to admit an openly gay member, to be an unconstitutional abridgment of the Boy Scouts' right to free association.
(end cut and paste article from wikipedia)
So, I guess if the Prom was specifically about male-female pairing up, then geeks, wallflowers, gays, single mothers, cross dressers, those who remain celibate due to their religion or mean and nasty fathers named Bill, and divorced couples need not apply. If not about male-female bonding, say, like a speed dating club, then forbidding gay couples is not constitutional.
I don't make this stuff up dude!
(I liked my prom. I never DID get a date for it, so I really shoulna oughta been there. I left early and smoked up with a couple of teachers instead.)
There's a difference between the freedom to assemble and having an assembly set up for you -- though that logic would be roughly akin to the artists who, years ago, groaned that their rights of free expression s were being contravened when the Fine Arts Commission (I forget their actual name) decided to not fund them any more. Of course, my feeling was 'you can express all you want; I'm just not paying for it.'
Yeah, but there is always SOME group at a school or University that I would "like" to see disenfranchised....the "Nuke the Whales" group here at Carleton was hopefully just a debunking drinking club, but I can't help but think their whole schtick was to offend as many people as possible, but as much as I would like them to vanish, they just won't go away!
The school is being stupid, extremely so. The ACLU is being idiotic. The girl just wants to have a good time. They should all just lighten up. The USA is built on a standard of freedom.. as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, what's the big deal? A lawsuit? Sure, let's spend thousands more tax dollars fighting this one!
Gimme a break!
Maybe the students & their parents could rent a hall and throw a prom off campus?
I agree. Though I can see people saying 'why should we pay for one when the school would have paid for the other'.
I just don't think its that big a deal.
You are all invited to my Nuke the Whales sponsored xxxxxx xxxxx xx x xxxx party next week. We are crucifying live (well, maybe freshly killed) rabbits, parading them around and then stewing them for supper. Oh, right...that IS pretty offensive come to think of it. Oh well, so long as I have the right to assemble.....
(self censored to protect gentle sensibilities.)
Nuke the whales!!!!!
I'm with Von, get a life...let the kids have fun!
Save the Whales -- Collect The Whole Set!
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