Gay Couple Attends Scottsboro, Alabama (Yes, I Said Alabama) High School Prom

[DeSwiss]

Gay couple attends Scottsboro High's prom
Judge rules school cannot ban pair from the festivities

Huntsville Times
By DAVID BREWER
Sunday, March 30, 2008

SCOTTSBORO - Chelsea Overstreet and Lauren Martin were like many other Scottsboro High School girls Saturday afternoon, both nervous and excited about going to their first prom in a only a few hours. But unlike the others, they went to the dance as a gay couple, something the Scottsboro City Board of Education tried unsuccessfully to stop.

"It's something they had been planning for a year," Martin's mother, Connie Farrington, said during a press conference Saturday afternoon with their lawyer, Parker Edmiston, at his Scottsboro office. "Just like every other child, she was ecstatic" about going. But the day before spring break two weeks ago, the mothers said, their girls were told by school officials that they could not go as a homosexual couple. "It was a big letdown" for the girls, Farrington said. She said they had already bought their prom tickets and formal wear for the dance.

A last-minute court order from Jackson County Circuit Judge John Graham of Stevenson prohibited the board from banning the girls from the junior-senior prom at Scottsboro's Goosepond Civic Center Saturday night. In making his 10:15 a.m. ruling Saturday, Graham cited two federal court rulings. In one, the U.S. Supreme Court said "states and their agencies ... cannot set-out homosexuals for special treatment..." The other "prohibits publicly-funded schools ... from barring same-sex couples from school functions." Efforts to reach school officials for comment were unsuccessful.

During the press conference, Edmiston, Farrington and Overstreet's mother, Sarah Collins, answered reporters' questions as the girls stayed in another room. Edmiston said the girls would not be talking to reporters, although photos and videos of them were permitted after the press conference. Overstreet, 17, a junior, wore her prom dress while Martin, 16, a sophomore, had on a tuxedo.

"This is just a dance," Edmiston said. "Adults need not get involved."

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1206868560229520.xml&coll=1">LINK

- Yes, this is not a typo -- it was Alabama where this happened. Although I'm pretty sure that former Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy "Ten Commandments" Moore is probably saying at this very moment that this ruling would never have happened if the commandments had been posted in courtrooms throughout the state like he'd planned.

But I must also say that I'm both stunned and elated that Alabama actually has at least one judge who understands the Constitution was designed to create an environment for the expression of freedom, and not as a means to enforce the ancient, religiously-driven, and bigoted attitudes of Fundies and Repukes.

My hat's off to the prom-goers and soon-to-be graduates. And here's to hoping that the school boards here in the state of Tennessee and everywhere feel the heat. Freedom's coming boys. Whether you like it or not...
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DeSwiss


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[Skittles]

1. strange, isn't it DeSwiss

it's both pitiful that such a simple thing makes NEWS and AWESOME news at the same time :D

[DeSwiss]

2. Absolutely!!!

And its even more remarkable when one considers that Alabama still has laws on the books outlawing the use of sexual aid devices except for "medical purposes."

[Moloch]

3. That is wonderful news.

Those girls are very brave to be doing that in Alabama and its awesome they won. Gay couples dancing is normal and the more accustomed people in places like Alabama become to seeing gay people in everyday settings, the better.

[DeSwiss]

4. You said it.

Brave.

And I look forward to the day when its "just normal....."

[Crowman1979]

5. I'm glad to read this!

Hopefully it will get people to realize that this state is not as red as many are led to believe. Although there is a long way to go. But I have some bad news for those who travel to Montgomery, the bar "Fat boys follies" is closed.