Every public school student is entitled to "free expression" rights and is allowed to bring a same-sex date to prom. Many youth face obstacles from their administration without full well knowing their own legal recourse for the discriminatory actions by their school.
Lambda Legal offers an informative document with info about your rights and courses of action you can take.
Sample letter one can use to contact school officials about their right to take the person of their choice to prom.
Finally, if the above suggestions and courses of action do not work, you can contact Lambda Legal to see about taking legal action against the school. (This may seem intimidating, but sometimes it is as simple as an attorney calling the school to clarify that they are in violation of your rights which helps clear up the whole mess).
Monday, March 16, 2009
Prom Season - What LGBTQ Youth Need to Know!
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10 comments:
This is so awesome that you posted this. Many will need this information.
I agree! Too bad my friends are too cool to go to prom *rolls eyes* I'm passing it around anyway...
I still remember my 9th grade year, this guy in my World Hist and his girlfriend cross dressed...I wish I'd gone *sigh*
Back a couple of years ago there was an
openly lesbian couple at the school I work
at...They went to prom and had a blast...
Nobody gave them a hard time...They had
their prom photos done and all that...
I pray that all children going to prom will
have fun and not be discriminated against...
TACKLE YOU HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Laurie
There was an article about this very thing on 365gay.com just the other day.
GLSEN normally does an alternative prom for LGBTQ students to attend, so they feel more comfortable. But they shouldn't have to do that.
Great post.
Your are on blog roll: http://blog.mysocalledgaylife.com
Yeah, at my high school (the woodlands college park, texas) the principal didn't let gay couples come to prom. When my friend told me this she said that there are no texas laws against discrimination based on sexuality, which sounds really unconstitutional and just hateful, but I don't know if it's true. I did see that there was a Dallas phone # on the Lambda Legal site, so that's probably wrong. Anyway, my principal is a dick. (we can't have a gay-straight alliance either)
Jessica you absolutely can have a GSA if it is a public school. By law they cannot deny you, and you can contact the ACLU to tell your school they must comply.
Here is their tip sheet for starting a GSA http://gbge.aclu.org/content/blogcategory/83/59/
Jessica, my son will be a freshman at TWCPHS this fall. He's straight (I think) but as a parent I absolutely support your right to organize a GSA. If you want to pursue this and need some parental support, email me. jhtrumble@gmail.com. I'd be happy to stand with you.
Janet that is very kind to offer your support. We need straight allies who support all kids at our schools.
Thank you for the support Janet! Actually, a group of kids at the school (including myself) have worked hard to get the club authorized, and it worked! We already have a teacher sponsor. I've been voted secretary, which I'm very excited about, so I'll send you an email with more details so your son can get involved if he wants to. Thank you, again. What a wonderful coincidence this was that you saw my comment!
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