Today I am ashamed to say I am from Mississippi. (Greenville: how much, home)

[mississippimagnolia]

Seriously??? Miss. school prom off after lesbian's date request - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_lesbian_prom_date - broken link)

I love Mississippi, but I hate the ignorance that still prevails in so much of our amazing state.

We moved away from Mississippi because we didn't want our kids growing up around exactly this kind of intolerance. I was born in Pototoc. 36 members of my family have graduated from Ole Miss. Our oldest is there now as a sophomore.

We've lived in Greenville, Tupelo, and Oxford. I love Mississippi and miss living there. But we won't move back until our children are grown. I wonder how many others feel the same way. How much money does Mississippi lose every year because families like ours leave the state?

I'm not liberal. I'm a conservative, Christian, stay-at-home mother with five kids. That doesn't mean I ever think it's ok to discriminate against others for their religious views, their race, or their sexuality.

I hope the good folks of Mississippi will contact the Itawamba County School Board to express their feelings about this issue. Even if you are completely opposed to homosexuality from a moral or Biblical standpoint, you can't possible believe that canceling a prom because a gay couple might show up makes sense.

I normally despise the ACLU. In this case, I hope they completely destroy the Itawamba County Schools. I've already contacted them to offer my support. And I hope the local FBI office is all over this. Seems to me a Civil Rights Investigation should be initiated.

[Tama]

Maybe you shouldn't despise the ACLU. I often disagree with them--but they are a force protecting the Bill of Rights from exactly this type of idiocy. You might find yourself being irate a lot more without the ACLU.

[mississippimagnolia]

Maybe you shouldn't despise the ACLU. I often disagree with them--but they are a force protecting the Bill of Rights from exactly this type of idiocy. You might find yourself being irate a lot more without the ACLU.

You might be right. They often come across, at least to me, as nearly as intolerant as those they fight against. Perhaps they just need better spokespeople.

[savage71chevelless]

The ACLU to me is a useless organization. I disagree with that group 100% of the time

[DiogenesofJackson]

A similar tactic during the 1950s and 1960s civil rights movement. If a beach, swimming pool, school, lunch counter, etc. integrated, the powers that be would close the facility. Miss. didn't close schools, but the legislature debated it after Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.

The student should not have made their intentions known and it'd have probably have been no big deal.

As from what I've heard, Tupelo High didn't have a prom at the school for many years because of integration after Brown. The moved it off campus, to the country club. I make these statements to point out that civil rights applies equitably to all people, black, white, lesbian, gay, naturalized immigrants, etc., especially when things are closed to exclude certain peoples. When this occurs, a violation of everyone's freedom is the result.

[Winter_Sucks]

Originally Posted by savage71chevelless

The ACLU to me is a useless organization. I disagree with that group 100% of the time

An organization dedicated to protecting the First Amendment is useless?

[MiamiRob]

well this is a national story that does nothing but bring on a very dark spotlight on your state. Do you know what people are saying? "Oh well it doesn't surprise us since it's Mississippi! What do you expect?"
I remember travelling south of Memphis thru the interstate on the way to I-10 to go home to Florida and northern MS left me aghast how rural & poor it was so this somehow didn't surprise me but come on now people! This is 2010! There are going to be gays anywhere you go in this nation and to cancel a Prom for the rest of the kids is absolutely juvenile & moronic!
The world isn't going to end if a gay teen goes takes her female date to a dance. Instead the school board has ostracized this poor child and made her the scapegoat and the scorn of her fellow students.
For shame on the Itawamba County School Board! It is clear that there aren't any adults running that Circus!

[DiogenesofJackson]

School board positions in Mississippi are popularly elected in most places. In some, board members don't even have a high school diploma, but this is not the case in every district. It was as recent as the mid-90s, but I think some have changed how board members get their position, such as appointment rather than popular election.

[danielj72]

Originally Posted by MiamiRob

well this is a national story that does nothing but bring on a very dark spotlight on your state. Do you know what people are saying? "Oh well it doesn't surprise us since it's Mississippi! What do you expect?"
I remember travelling south of Memphis thru the interstate on the way to I-10 to go home to Florida and northern MS left me aghast how rural & poor it was so this somehow didn't surprise me but come on now people! This is 2010! There are going to be gays anywhere you go in this nation and to cancel a Prom for the rest of the kids is absolutely juvenile & moronic!
The world isn't going to end if a gay teen goes takes her female date to a dance. Instead the school board has ostracized this poor child and made her the scapegoat and the scorn of her fellow students.
For shame on the Itawamba County School Board! It is clear that there aren't any adults running that Circus!

This does not put a dark spotlight on Mississippi. The town where this occured is obviously a religous area, and people still hold to what the bible says. For every leftist politically correct type that is saying bad things about mississippi, there are 5 others who read about this and think its about time someone stood up to the madness. Oh and traditional values is not something that you only see in small town mississippi. I live up in Michigan and a few years back we changed our state constitution to preserve marriage between a man and a woman. I think most of the midwestern states surrounding us have done the same (except for Iowa). We passed our marriage amendment by 70% by the way. Most Americans are sick of this issue being forced down thier throats. Bottom line is this, If you choose to be some kind of deviant, then expect the social consequences. Our nation gives you the freedom to do what you want inside your own home, but do not expect the state or society to approve of what you are doing if it goes against what god says is right in the bible. Society and the state owes you nothing. God bless those folks at the Itawamba Schools for standing up for what is right, and what thier community values are. Im sure some private entity will put on a prom for all the normal children at that high school, one that does not have the oversight of the ACLU.

[poptones]

Thanks for popping into this thread to remind everyone it isn't just Mississippi that is burdened by a population of ignorant control freaks toting crosses.