Recently, 18-year-old Constance McMillen has become the target of discrimination. She intended to go to her prom dressed in a tuxedo with her girlfriend as her date. The very religious school officials consider same-gender relations to be a sin and as such Superintendent Teresa McNeece told McMillen that she could not come with her female date. If they showed up they would be “ejected.”
McMillen contacted her local ACLU who notified the school that this kind of discrimination was unconstitutional and would be met with a lawsuit. The Itawamba County Agricultural High School in Mississippi in which McMillen attends, decided that it was better to cancel the entire prom for everyone rather than allow Constance to bring her girlfriend to the dance.
The school district however stated that they hoped that private citizens in the community would organize a dance. A private dance would be legally allowed to invite or in this case not invite who ever they choose. Presumably the school seemed to think that a Church or other religious organization would hold a dance which would exclude Constance and her girlfriend.
What they probably did not expect was that The American Humanist Association (AHA) would be the private group who would step in to organize the dance. Thanks to a $20,000 donation, the AHA is making preparations for an LGBT-inclusive dance. No discrimination, everyone is allowed to have fun.
Roy Speckhardt, Executive Director of the AHA had this to say, “It’s shameful that closed-minded members of the school board are prepared to deprive an entire class of students their prom over their outdated religious mores.” He went on to state that, “the ACLU is doing good work in Mississippi, and we humanists can also bring resources to the table that will defend students from a repressive school board.”
Philadelphia has a large gay community and so it is reassuring to know that should a similar situation occur in this city, atheists and humanist groups are out there that will protect the rights of all citizens against Biblically-inspired discrimination.
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Comments
This is wonderful, loving and amazing.
Can the religious bigots PLEASE hurry up and die off so everyone can enjoy equality?
God works in mysterious ways
This is a great solution. Let's hope the haters don't keep their kids from going.
I was hoping when i read this story, online the other day, that some reasonable and sane group would step up and throw these kids a prom.
To Norman, as an atheist I think it is great that you and I can agree that this tactic on the school board's part is absurd. BUT, you yourself are not out of the woods, merely because of that common ground.
Bigotry is bad, we both agree, GREAT. I am with you. But isn't it time you get tired of your god's mystery? If he wants us all to get along, this is one crappy way of making his plan clear and then cops out to "I can do what I want, and I don't have to explain myself to you".
My point isn't that a god exists, as an atheist, of course I don't believe that. My point is bigotry, like super natural beings in all history, are handed down to us, and until we question those things, we wont grow as a species.
Norman - Countries like Egypt, Iraq, and Nigeria would be empty.
I say those girls should show up anyway as a sign that they won't be pushed around.
This is a brilliant move. One of the best image improving ideas I've seen in awhile. No comment on this religous school needed.
The AHA is not an atheist organization.
The AHA is not an "atheist" group -- humanists are not necessarily atheists. Kurt Vonnegut was not an atheist but an avowed agnostic -- and insisted on that difference -- and he was a leader of the AHA. I am very glad that the AHA has steeped in for Constance and her school.
That said, I am glad you have a site explaining atheism for the uneducated. I am so tired of people assuming that atheists are immoral or amoral, or essentially baby-eating Satanists in disguise. And, also, assuming all atheists are alike.
I am a Christian, but have a great deal of respect for atheists and agnostics. Much of Christianity today bears little resemblance to the teachings of Jesus Christ -- social justice, loving your neighbor, selling all you have and giving it to the poor, that sort of thing. I know atheists who are doing a better job of taking care of Jesus' business than supposed Christians.
Actually Linda, the AHA is an atheist organization. If you every looked at their website or have attending a meeting of one of their local chapters you would know that. Also, many agnostics are atheists and almost all atheists are agnostics. Please see my article on that topic listed in the Atheism 101 section. Thanks,
-Staks
Applause! Most emphatic applause!
The school is trying to pretend that McMillen is the one who canceled the prom or caused the prom to be canceled (as if she actually had any power to do either). This is incorrect. The school canceled the prom and the cause was their bigotry.
These school officials need to stop being paid on the public dime. They need to be immediately dismissed for their bigotry.
Staks, you are making your own terms. Orwell says that is a no-no. I am a member of the Universalist church. Many AHA members. Not atheists. Here is a lesson in logic, A includes B. A does NOT equal B necessarily. Nor B equal A. You are just a zealot. Get your guillotine ready.
bmben - I am not making up my own terms. I don't know where you got that from. I explained the origin and meaning of the terms "Agnostic" and "Atheist" in another article. Please read that article. Second, AHA is an atheist organization. Why don't you read their website or go to one of their meetings. I have and I can tell you for a fact that they do not advocate a belief in deities. Their website states this outright. Their meetings reinforce this position. Claiming that AHA is not an atheist organization is like claiming that Focus on the Family is not a Christian organization. It's absurd.
You write: "The very religious school officials..."
Uh, cite? Can you confirm this? Also, how religious do you have to be to be "very" religious? And even if they are, how do you know that they "consider same-gender relations to be a sin"?
Atheists can be bigots, too, ya know. I'm not saying you're wrong about the school officials having a religion/religions, I'm just asking where you have your proof.
Karen, lol. Where is my proof? Who funded the campaign in favor of Prop 8? Who kicked kids out of their private school because their parents were lesbians? Who tried to blackmail the city of Washington DC to get them to vote against making same-gender equality? In every state that has been fighting for same-gender marriage, the groups that lead the opposition all have one thing in common. They are all religious! There is no reasonable objection to same-gender equality in modern day America other religious.
I'm not saying that all religious people are anti-gay. That would be inaccurate and wrong. But if someone is anti-gay they almost certainly have religious reasons for it.
Oh, I forgot to mention Carrie Prejean or Lauren Ashley.
The school is in Mississippi which is also known for being very religious. I can go on all day here. Stop me any time.
Karen, I should also point out that the Superintendent Teresa McNeece states on her Facebook page that she only listens to Country and Christian music and that she attended Liberty Christian College (not to me confused with Liberty University). Is that proof enough?
Kudos to the AHA!
thanks for posting this Staks...she's incredibly uplifting, a true heroine. Very brave in the face of all that ignorance and bigotry. Thanks. Tosha, SF Spiritual Examiner
Congratulations to the AHA for promoting human dignity, mutual respect, open mindedness, honour, equality, and social justice...
How truly sad that the school administration would first attempt to discriminate against individuals who do not share their personal beliefs, and then would follow up by punishing the whole school class due to the administration's hatred, intolerance and bigotry...
Peace.
Thank you for this wonderful piece of news. I put it on Facebook
First up: I'm opposed to gay marriage and religiously believe that homosexuality is a sin. Moving right along now.
Regardless of my personal beliefs, even I think this is ridiculous. I wrote and rewrote what else could really be said here seven times and I still can't find the words to describe the level of stupidity here.
Props to the AHA for stepping in and stepping up.
While the facts reported in this article are true the title is very misleading. I wonder how the American Humanist Association feels about the shallow way in which you portray them.
According to their website they "strive to bring about a progressive society where being “good without god” is an accepted way to live life. We are accomplishing this through our defense of civil liberties & secular governance, by our outreach to the growing number of people without religious belief or preference, & through a continued refinement and advancement of the humanist worldview. Bordered on one side by the transcendental views of traditional religions & mythologies & on the other by atheism & secularism, the values we hold are grounded in the philosophy of the Enlightenment, informed by scientific knowledge, & driven by a desire to meet the needs of people in the here & now."
This story was not about "atheists" helping "gays" have a prom despite your attempt to slant things that way.
Melinda, I hate to break it to you, but AHA is an atheist organization. I have been to quite a few of their meetings. Their local chapter is a core member of the Philadelphia Coalition of Reason which is an umbrella group for atheist organizations. You quite honestly have no idea what you are talking about. Still, it saddens me that rather than criticize the decision to ban a girl from her prom because she is gay, you are poorly attempting to make an issue out of AHA's secular worldview.
Melinda: Let's look at the facts.
Queer HS student wants to bring same-sex person as date to prom. Unfortunately for her, "The Itawamba County school district's policy requires that senior prom dates be of the opposite sex." - nytimes
As this issue was at odds with the school district policy, prom was canceled. Coincidentally, this school happens to reside right in the heart of the bible belt.....the school district's reasoning? To prevent "distractions" (very vague and subjective).
Considering that this took place in the bible belt, it would follow to reason that the prom would likely be held by a religious institution, allowing the discrimination to be legal (or maybe they didn't even think that far, the district just wanted to be free of having to take a stand)
FORTUNATELY, the AHA, an openly ATHEIST organization, did the right thing and put up the money to host the event for everyone, when other organizations would not.
so yes, it is a case of ATHEISTS helping out
"gays" (stupid 1000 char limit)
I would have paid for her tux rental if she and her girlfriend would have shown up just to be kicked out (and see the school district REALLY get vilified). We had a similar incident where two lesbian students went to our prom, but were cheered and accepted, rather than having our prom threatened to be cancelled.
If the only basis for your beliefs exist in a book written by someone 3000 years ago for a group of people that isn't you (Old Testament = laws for the Israelites), especially when said book is almost 100% against the standards by which your culture is founded upon (the Old Testament favors slavery, religious and racial intolerance, and is vastly misogynistic, all stuff that has been or is being phased out of the norm of this country). Religion is fine...organized religion and religion-as-politics is a serious problem in many parts of this country, and throughout the world as a whole.
The author claims that if such discrimination were to take place in Philadelphia, that "atheists and humanist groups are out there that will protect the rights of all citizens against Biblically-inspired discrimination". It is unfortunate that these groups would have no power to help enforce a change like this in our private schools, where bigotry runs rampant. Having attended a Private Catholic high school in the area (I won't say which one, though it doesn't matter), I remember friends of mine who were openly gay, and who were respected and tolerated until prom came around, and the school's true colors showed through. The only reason is because of the unabashed hatred that still runs rampant among misguided Catholics. Having grown up this way, I am convinced that by allowing one type of hatred, you justify all hatred, which is why 90% of the Catholics I knew were (and still are) hateful in many ways, and not just towards gays, but other minorities as well. Hypocrisy, pure and simple.
Thanks for sharing that Andrew. Atheist groups in the Philadelphia area are grouping and we are very gay friendly. Last year we wear out in the pouring rain during the Pride Day Festival showing our support. FSGP has staged multiple protests against the Boy Scouts for their anti-gay and anti-atheist positions.
While the atheist groups is this area aren't huge yet, we do have some numbers to us and if we can help out our friends in the gay community we try to do so. There is a lot of overlap between the two communities and we have a common enemy.
A lot of Constance's classmates might ditch the AHA prom for another one hosted by a church.
"Estb says:
A lot of Constance's classmates might ditch the AHA prom for another one hosted by a church."
Yeah 'cause what every kid wants on prom night is a function hosted by a bunch of stuck up moralistic bigotted church people.
Can you say booooooooooring?
religion is cancer. omosexuality is freedom.
The American Humanist Association isn't an "atheist group". It's a humanist group.
Not all Christians are... discriminatory... this sounds so villainous. Episcopalians even appoint openly gay and lesbian ministers and bishops. Just because someone is christian doesn't mean they are against everyone who is gay, or lesbian, or anything. God gave them that path how could you be against that. All it does is just force people to harbor more hatred, which is the opposite of what god should really inspire. Maybe I'm crazy but, to me god is just a guide along a path, you believe in god, pray, and listen to your heart to feel what is right. Being hateful doesn't feel right, being mean, discriminating against people instead of just hoping that they will follow the path that their heart guides them to. It's not about rules and religion, I don't go to church. You can go to church. I don't know, I just don't like how everyone loops all Christians into one big hated bag... I've never felt so hated as when I started believing in god. Doesn't that seem odd?
trillian: "I've never felt so hated as when I started believing in god." probably because of the misplaced 'victim complex' that the christian institution uses as a foundation for their beliefs. in all reality, criticism of an idea isn't hatred, it's just criticism. If you cannot take the criticism then maybe you shouldn't broadcast your beliefs (much like many 'closet' athiests who cannot broadcast their beliefs because we live in a christian-dominant society).
patty: you're an idiot, go read their mission statement, the first line of which is "We strive to bring about a progressive society where being 'good without god' is an accepted way to live life"
sounds pretty atheist to me. unless those who are good without god aren't atheists? they don't put the word "Atheist" in their organization title because of the amount of discrimination and hatred associated with that term (by christians mostly).
so i will once again re-iterate: it is a case of ATHEISTS helping out gays
and trillian, i'll amend my last comment to include an agreement about the fact that not all christians are discriminatory.
but the institution of christianity is founded on bigotry, misogyny, slavery, homophobia, etc.
so when it comes down to it, it's not the individuals, it's the organization as a whole. personal religion is perfectly fine in my book, it's when you have institutions and organizations that become politicized and outspoken that you begin to see the hatred that christianity quietly supports.
if everyone were given the old and new testament and told to read it themselves and formulate their own opinion, then i'd doubt the american christian movement (i.e. the christian coalition, also the religious right, among others) would be as strong as they are today. but since most americans are lazy, they just take the word of their respective holy persons, without lending a critical eye to determine for themselves if it's something worth supporting.
oh yeah, and patty, i can see where you may be confused. even though it's an atheist organization, they're still open minded enough to work with theists on non-conflicting issues
from their mission statement:
"We count humanists and other nontheists as the core of our movement but are always willing to work with friends and allies on issues of common concern."
which shows they have a inclusive club, not an exclusive one.
Trillian - No one said ALL Christians were discriminatory, but those who discriminate against gays are almost always Christians (or some other Abrahamic religion).
If you think your God is a loving god, then you really haven't read your Bible. Because the character of God as depicted in the Bible (including Jesus) is not a loving character at all. I think you are inventing your own God and calling it the Christian God.
I think it was abhorrent that they just shut down the prom to exclude one girl. Religious and civil rights aside, that is an unfair victimization of the individual girl: think of what it would be like if the entire high school hated you for what the school did (on top of the discrimination she already faces). I think high school is harsh enough without singling someone out as a scapegoat.
That said, I think tolerance is sorely needed. I am an atheist, but I don't bash religious people. That's like bashing blondes just because I'm a brunette. I will criticize people for partaking in stereotypically religious indecencies, but I don't assume that a Christian embodies everything bad in their religion. And as for LGBT, why can't people just learn to live and let live? If you think homosexuality is an abomination, can't you just assure yourself they're going to hell anyway and let them enjoy some equality on earth? :P
There have been enough hoorays for the AHA and boos for the school, so I wouldn't normally comment... but I wanted to add my two cents to a tangent issue brought up in the comments.
Trillian, thank you for your comment. I am neither Christian nor atheist, for the record, but I know exactly what you mean. I have too many friends that assume all Christians are like the closed-minded, vocal minority that you read about in stories like this. And I find it particularly depressing that the first response to your comment was a sneer. A subtle one, but it was. Just me, she never said she couldn't take it... just that she found it sad. I do as well. Faith should not make you the target of abuse, no matter what it is. That right there is why I generally avoid self-righteous atheists (note: not all-- it is a vocal minority) as much as their Christian counterparts.
The wording "Atheist group" is probably mistaken. Just because people stand up for others and are open minded does not mean they don't have a religion.
Using myself as an example, I feel that judging others on such trivial matters is morally wrong. I am Christian. In the future I hope the publishers of this article will be more sensitive in their wording.
No Xalleah, I was not mistaken. AHA is an atheist organization. I am sorry that offends you. I know it must be hard for you to accept that the "evil" atheists might not be "evil" after all.
Staks:
"If you think your God is a loving god, then you really haven't read your Bible. Because the character of God as depicted in the Bible (including Jesus) is not a loving character at all. I think you are inventing your own God and calling it the Christian God."
Itching ears hear what they want to hear.
If you came home and found your daughter about to smoke crack with some shady friends, how would you react? You would be FURIOUS. Why? Because you love your daughter. Anger can come from love.
God hates sin; Scripture makes that clear. So Jesus flipping over tables and God taking extreme measures only makes sense if you consider the whole picture: A perfect God creates a free-willed people who contaminate their relationship with him with sin. He therefore has to take extreme measures to combat it, including sacrificing Himself on the cross ONLY for us even though we don't deserve it.
btw, I agree that it was wrong what they did with this prom. If it was a church social, it would be a different story. But it is a public school. Being gay is not illegal so they didn't have a right to ban them (although I guess they were legally allowed to cancel prom?).
"people can be good without god"
I've always shook my head at phrases like this. Let's assume, for argument's sake, that there is a god, the God of the Bible. We were all created in the image of God (therefore His character is imparted in us in some way). So whether you believe in God or not, you still were created in His image and therefore have the ability to "do/be good". So you aren't proving you can be good without God because you still have some of God in you!
Now let's look at the other angle, assuming there is no God. That means none of us have God, whether we believe or not. So any good that is done in the world (nevermind defining "good"...that is a whole different argument :P) is due to what natural selection did to us to create our emotions/consciousness (not to mention the nano-machinery and 3-dimensional info processing systems within our cells, but I digress), so belief in God is again beside the point. (continued in next post)
(continued from previous post)
...so the "good without god" slogan proves nothing. All that is demonstrated is that humans have innate ability to be good. Christians have faith that it is because we were all created in the image of God, atheists have faith that the behavior was favored by natural selection.
Now if it is simply meant to combat odd beliefs like you must be a Christian to be good, then I guess it has a point. I am simply arguing against it because in debates it is often used as why God is not needed (because if you go back to the first assumption, obviously God is needed to create us in His image, and by the second assumption there is nothing to "leave behind" because it was never there).
Louis,
If you think that's all God's supposed to have done or at least told others to do, according to the bible; you haven't read it all, like for instance the slaughter of innocent women, children and infants, not once, but several times.
On the other hand, you made a good case in your debate of "people can be good without god", though probably not the case you intended. You clearly show that God was not needed for people to be good, and that's actually one of the atheists' points, if something's not needed (God) to explain something else (goodness), why add it and make an explanation more complex than needed? (based off of Ockham's Razor).
But the purpose of the "Good without God" comment is meant more to draw atheists out of the closet than to change minds towards atheism.
Thanks for this article Staks. As a Humanist minister, I can attest to your readers that the American Humanist Association is indeed made up of modern Humanists, who are by definition atheists because they explicitly deny belief in a deity.
Having said that, there is a reason they don't call themselves the 'American Atheist Association', and it is because Humanism is about much more than our lack of belief in someone else's deity - a relatively minor point to a Humanist. AHA is an atheist group, but not merely an atheist group. It would be like a Muslim or a New Age theistic guru with a blog on "Theism" calling a Christian organization a "theist group" in the title of the post - technically correct, but perhaps incomplete.
Thanks, DT Strain. I have been to a few of the Humanist programs in the Philly and have worked with the Humanist groups in this area through PhillyCoR. I have actually been meaning to officially join the Philly Humanist Association for a while now. Keep up the great work DT.
"If you think that's all God's supposed to have done or at least told others to do, according to the bible; you haven't read it all, like for instance the slaughter of innocent women, children and infants, not once, but several times."
I said extreme measures. Considering a perfect God, sin is infinitely horrible. I don't claim to have an excuse for God's actions because he doesn't need any. His will is all that matters. It was his will to choose a certain people and to shield them from sin in any way he desired. If that is "not the type of God" you would like, well it's surely your American right to reject Him, but it doesn't mean He doesn't exist
"On the other hand, you made a good case in your debate of "people can be good without god", though probably not the case you intended. You clearly show that God was not needed for people to be good, and that's actually one of the atheists' points, if something's not needed (God) to explain something else (goodness), why add it and make an explanation more complex than needed? (based off of Ockham's Razor)."
Re-read my post (especially the second half). I didn't prove that God doesn't exist, I argued that humans have an innate ability to be good. It says nothing about why we have this. Now if you think selected errors buillding human morality, nanomachinery, elegant genetic error correction and consciousness is an example of Occam's Razor, well I guess I don't have as much faith as you. I'll stick with my silly belief that my thoughts are not reducible to the laws of physics.
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