Male student wearing dress denied entrance to prom

[wicket]

Why oh why do some people need to make it so freakin' difficult for our gay brothers and sisters to just live their lives??? Was anyone really going to be "harmed" seeing him in a dress? :grr:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/05/24/male_student_wearing_dress_denied_entrance_to_prom/

A male student who has worn women's clothes to school all year was turned away from his high school prom because he was wearing a dress.

Kevin Logan, 18, went to the West Side High School prom on Friday in a slinky fuchsia gown and heels. He believes officials discriminated against him by not allowing him inside.

"I have no formal pictures, no memories, nothing. You only have one prom," he said.

Logan, who is gay, received an $85 refund for his prom ticket Tuesday but was not satisfied. He said he is considering filing a complaint with the Indiana Civil Liberties Union. Sylvester Rowan, assistant to Gary Schools Superintendent Mary Steele, said school policy bans males from wearing dresses. Excluding Logan from prom was based on "the dress code, not the student's homosexuality. That's his personal preference."

Tyrone Hanley, the youth program coordinator for the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition in Washington, D.C., said he often sees cases like this and called it gender-based discrimination. "Prohibiting really short skirts for everyone is a fair dress code; prohibiting them for males is not," he said.

[Tom Joad]

1. so tasteful, too.

[NJ_Lib]

5. I was thinking that myself... How does this...

... violate "dress code"...? The fact that it was on a male? I smell civil liberties burning in Indiana...

[Kikosexy2]

18. Bet he ...

out-fashioned all the girls there and they got jealous...He is fierce! Probably would have won Prom Queen too...well you go girl!! snap, snap!

[WI_DEM]

2. well if he was allowed to attend school all year dressed in womens clothes

it shouldn't have been a surprise that he would attend the prom the same way--they should have just admitted him.

[wicket]

8. That's what really sticks in my craw

It was ok for the whole year but they suddenly have a problem with it???? Grrrr.....

[Reverend_Smitty]

3. The school allowed him to wear women's clothing to class...

I don't see what the big deal is if he wants to go to the prom in a dress then. It seems to me that they are making up some very arbitrary rules here

[NC_Nurse]

4. Maybe they were afraid

he would put the girls tro shame. Too bad, he looks quite nice, IMO.

[MADem]

6. Well, if they had a problem, they should have mentioned it at the

start of the school year, and sorted it out then. They in essence acceded to his clothing choice from Day One, and now they're getting shirty (or should I say DRESSY) about it?

Seems to me he has an actionable complaint. I don't think the "dress" business is gonna cut it. Woe to them if any young man ever wore a kilt to that school's prom in past years! If I were on his legal team, it's the first thing I'd check!

[woodsprite]

7. One of my employees wore a skirt to work.

They're not prohibited, but shorts are. Apparently it's not the first time he's done it. The only thing I said was that I thought it would look better if he waxed next time (big hairy brazillian guy :).

If this kid dressed like this all the time and they didn't enforce the "Dress code", then they shouldn't have enforced it for the Prom. If he is well liked in school, I imagine he'd have alot of kids on his side about this one. Sounds to me like someone didn't want him in the pictures.

[LeftyMom]

9. Why is this even an issue?

Who is he hurting by wearing a dress and if his classmates always see him in womens clothing why do they need to be protected from the sight at prom?

This is just a meanspirited effort to punish this young man for being different and I hope those involved get thier asses sued off so the next smallminded bigot thinks again before pulling such a stunt.

[Horse with no Name]

10. Just to be clear about something

This man is a cross-dresser. The article seems to imply that he is gay ergo he wears dresses when that isn't the case at all. Not all gay men wear dresses, not all cross-dressers are gay.
This man just happens to be both.

edited for spelling correction.

[slackmaster]

12. No, the article states outright that he is gay

:argh:

[Horse with no Name]

16. I understand that

The slant of the article IMPLIES that he is gay, therefore he wears dresses.
"Sylvester Rowan, assistant to Gary Schools Superintendent Mary Steele, said school policy bans males from wearing dresses. Excluding Logan from prom was based on "the dress code, not the student's homosexuality."
This man does not wear dresses because he is gay, he wears dresses because he is a cross-dresser. They aren't the same thing.

[karlrschneider]

21. Your point would be much clearer if you said something like

"...the article implies that since he's gay, ergo he wears dresses."

Sorry to be a grammar cop, just trying to help clarify your correct point. :D

[slackmaster]

24. I read the same article and I don't see any sign of that slant

It says he wears dresses, and it says "Logan, who is gay...".

This man does not wear dresses because he is gay, he wears dresses because he is a cross-dresser. They aren't the same thing.

I fully understand that. I've met plenty of heterosexual cross-dressers. But I do not see the slant you are saying exists in the article.

[Horse with no Name]

25. Why do they even have to mention his sexual orientation?

It has nothing to do with why he wears dresses?:shrug:

[slackmaster]

26. Why not?

Presumably he elected to share that information with them; perhaps even volunteered it.

[Spangle]

28. Because

The fact that not ALL cross-dressers are gay hasn't really filtered down in the minds of the general population yet. For a great majority, cross dressing males are gay.(talking beliefs here, not fact) In many 'circles' hetro-cross dressers havn't came out yet. Not enough for people to wake up to reality.

While people are starting to come around and accept the gay lifestyle.. I find many, many older folks that see young men 'dressing funny' and automaticly assume they are gay. And you can't convience them other wise.

[Horse with no Name]

29. My point exactly

and the tone of this article perpetuates that myth.

[karlrschneider]

17. It bumfuzzled me too at first. Horse was pointing out that

some people assume that any gay male will therefore ('ergot') wear a dress.

[karlrschneider]

15. Well, the article doesn't "imply" he's gay, it says so specifically

"Logan, who is gay, received an $85 refund for his prom ticket Tuesday but was not satisfied. He said he is considering filing a complaint with the Indiana Civil Liberties Union."
===================================================================

Oh wait, I see what you're saying, you misspelled "ergo" and I missed it.
never mind

[Horse with no Name]

20. oops

Thanks for the heads-up and thanks for "getting it".:thumbsup:

[izzie]

11. I think it is sort of fun but then I love people who dare to do things.

Their are always people who make you mow your lawn because all the other lawns are mowed and they just can not help them self.

[redqueen]

13. I hope he does file a complaint!

I'm so sick of the double standard against men I could spit. If women can wear pants and not be ashamed, neither should men in women's clothes.

And for them to have allowed it all year at school and then turned around and ruined his prom is really $&#*^&.

[noonwitch]

14. Pied Piper, remember Karen wearing the tux to prom?

one of the girls in my class went to prom with a guy, but wore a tux because she hated frilly dresses. They just weren't her. We kept teasing her date (Fred) and suggesting he wear a dress.

I didn't go to prom, but it made the school newspaper.

[Nicole]

19. He should have got ACLU or ICLU involved before the prom

Maybe then he would have been able to wear the dress.

About his wearing women's clothing to school all year, he wore women's jeans not dresses. Maybe that's the difference here? They just hate dresses on males?

Whatever their reasons, it' sad that his prom was ruined because of bigots.

[wicket]

34. very very sad

:(

[Joe Bacon]

22. He looks better than Ann Coulter in a dress!

or Michelle Malkin!

[Nicole]

23. Yes he does n/t

[wicket]

27. Amen to that!

:)

[Raine]

30. If any of the females wore pants

to the prom and were allowed in then he should cite that as an example that he is being discriminated against.

[wicket]

31. Agree completely

n/t

[LostinVA]

32. Bingo n/t

[wicket]

33. kick

:kick: