Alabama high school threatens to cancel prom if lesbian attends

November 10, 12:59 PMBirmingham Gay Community ExaminerJoe Openshaw

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Update:  the school has reconsidered, and will allow the lesbian couple to attend. (also I corrected my misspelling)

School officials have  told 17 year old Cynthia Stewart that she could not attend her prom, prompting action by the ACLU.  Now the principal says he will cancel the event for everyone if she is allowed to attend with her girlfriend.

When Cynthia approached her principal to ask if she could bring her girlfriend with her to the prom, he said no. He also made Cynthia remove a sticker she was wearing that said, "I am a lesbian," telling her, "You don't have that much freedom of speech at school."

Cynthia is on the prom committee, created the theme for the event, and personally raised over $200 to use for the March 25, 2010 event.

Cynthia's aunt and guardian appealed to the school board but they let the decision stand.

The ACLU has demanded that Cynthia be allowed to attend the prom with her girlfriend and to stop interfering with her first amendment rights.

Cynthia attends Tharptown High School in Russellville, AL, part of the Franklin County School system.

Here is the demand letter sent by the ACLU of Alabama.

"It's just sad to see this school twisting itself in so many different directions to avoid its constitutional obligations to one student," said attorney Henry F. Sherrod III. "Cynthia doesn't just deserve to be able to take her girlfriend with her to the prom like any other student - she has a federally-protected right to do so."

"Federal law makes it absolutely clear that Franklin County School System doesn't have any right to discriminate against lesbian, gay, and bisexual students who want to bring same-sex dates to school dances," said Christine P. Sun, Senior Counsel with the ACLU national Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, who represents Stewart along with Sherrod. "We hope that our telling the school about its legal obligations towards its students will make it think again about treating Cynthia Stewart like a second-class citizen."

The district has until November 20 to respond to the letter.

Bonus foolishness.  Unrelated, but just as silly; a few months ago the state of Alabama banned a type of wine because of the picture on the label.  These types of things always seem to happen here.

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