Tag Archives: education

With all the controversy about Constance McMillen, Derrick Martin worried that his Cochran, Georgia high school might cancel his prom too because he asked if he could bring a male date. They said yes. At his high school, prom dates from outside counties must be approved in advance, so Martin went to his principal and asked. “At first she said …

Mississippi teen Constance McMillen appeared in court today as the ACLU’s claim of constitutional violations was heard. Mississippi officials who canceled a prom after a lesbian student asked to bring her girlfriend told a federal judge Monday that there were issues with the event even before that. The American Civil Liberties Union is suing in U.S. District Court to force …

Constance McMillen’s school board in Mississippi yesterday filed a court brief claiming that her prom had been canceled to settle the “very explosive and disruptive issue” of their ban on same-sex dating. ACLU attorney Christine Sun calls bullshit on that, saying it was the cancellation itself that catapulted the story into the national news. Sun notes that the filing includes …

Mississippi teen Constance McMillen will appear on today’s episode of Ellen where she’ll be awarded a $30K scholarship in recognition of her activism on behalf of gay youth. McMillen’s school board canceled her prom several weeks ago rather than allow her to attend with her girlfriend. Since then she’s appeared on countless media outlets talking about discrimination against LGBT youth. …

“When it first started, I just wanted to take my girlfriend to prom, you know? I thought it might make the local news and maybe help future LGBT students at Itawamba because hopefully they wouldn’t have to put up with what I did. I sure didn’t expect any of this kind of attention. [snip] “Anytime I feel like this is …

As they did last year, a massive coalition of Christian groups has announced their intention to have their children walk out of any public school participating in next month’s Day Of Silence, a GLSEN-sponsored event meant to educate kids that it’s wrong to beat up gay students. From the Day Of Silence Walkout site: The explicit purpose of DOS is …

“Let the record speak for itself. The Catholic Church does not approve of homosexuality; their position on pedophilia, however, is not as clear. I am sure most Catholics do not approve of pedophilia, but the executive branch of Catholicism seems to have difficulty convincing some of us that they are willing to do what is necessary to make sure that …

Mississippi teen Constance McMillen appeared on the Wanda Skyes Show to talk about her canceled prom. (Wanda surprises Constance by asking to her to be the presenter of Wanda’s upcoming GLAAD award.) There has been a huge national outpouring of support for Constance, with many offers of money and venues to host a gay friendly prom. The ACLU is suing …

William and Mary college students Casey and Cassie break down the anti-gay actions of Attorney Genernal Ken Cuchinelli and Gov. Bob McDonnell. The two have been part of a spring break action by Virginia students protesting the removal of LGBT protections at Virginia’s public universities. (Tipped by JMG reader Chris)

Christianist extremists have successfully rewritten American history. Here’s just a few of the textbook changes approved by the Texas State Board of Education. -The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum’s world history standards on Enlightenment thinking, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.” -“Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation’s …

A NYC charter school teacher is being sued by the parents of a 9 year-old boy, who say the teacher forced him to write a note to a female crush, falsely “confessing” that he is gay. According to court papers filed this week, the teacher, Jared Alessandroni, 29, threatened to “out” a straight 9-year-old boy, James Pastrana, to his class …

Mississippi teen Constance McMillen’s daddy is not only ridiculously hot, he supports his gay daughter. This national outpouring of support for Constance is, in my reckoning, unprecedented. Major national LGBT organizations could work all year and never create such a perfect storm of media attention focused on an attractive, well-spoken, sympathetic figure. Please strike while the issue is hot and …

Mississippi teen Constance McMillen’s story about the cancellation of her prom because she wants to bring a female date has gone national. Virtually every network (except Fox) has sympathetically covered the story and her Facebook support page now has over 66,000 members. This morning she appeared on the CBS Early Show with her ACLU lawyer. Fellow students are telling Constance, …

The ACLU has filed suit in federal court demanding that a Mississippi school board rescind their decision to cancel a high school prom rather than allow a lesbian student to attend with her female date. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit today against a Mississippi High School that has canceled prom rather than let a lesbian high school …

All Constance McMillen wanted was to bring her girlfriend to her high school prom, but a Mississippi school board has canceled the event entirely rather than allow lesbians to attend. “Due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events, the Itawamba County School District has decided to not host a prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School this …

“Let’s be clear that William & Mary neither discriminates against people nor tolerates discrimination on our campus. Those of us at W&M insist that members of our campus community be people of integrity who have both the capacity to meet their responsibilities to the university and the willingness to engage others with civility and respect. “We do not insist, however, …

This is Respect For All Week in NYC public schools, during which students will take diversity workshops and learn how to diffuse bullying and harassment. GLSEN is one of the NYC Department of Education’s partners in the program. “We applaud the Department of Education for recognizing the importance of the ongoing project of providing safe and effective learning environments for …

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s campaign to make sure that every LGBT person can be fired for being gay is expanding to his state’s public universities. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has asked the state’s public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, arguing in a letter sent to each school Thursday …

Three white elementary teachers in Los Angeles have been suspended for handing out photos of RuPaul, OJ Simpson, and Dennis Rodman as joking examples of black heroes for the children to carry during a parade marking Black History Month. A district spokeswoman said the teachers at Wadsworth Elementary School, where the majority of the students are Latino, could have made …

An atheist group at the University of Texas is offering free porn to students who surrender their Bibles. The program is called “Smut for Smut.” Since most churches are happy to give you as many Bibles as you can carry, this seems like a great way to beef up one’s porn collection. Fox News bloviates below.