Hey Itawamba County School Board… way to assure that this kid gets the shit beaten out of her by her fellow students:
A Mississippi county school board announced Wednesday it would cancel its upcoming prom after a gay student petitioned to bring a same-sex date to the event. […] The announcement alarmed [18-year-old senior, Constance] McMillen.
“Oh, my God. That’s really messed up because the message they are sending is that if they have to let gay people go to prom that they are not going to have one,” she said. “A bunch of kids at school are really going to hate me for this.“
Ya think? And you think the vindictive pricks on the school board didn’t realize this when they canceled the prom in response to her request? I imagine it’s hard enough being openly gay in rural Mississippi, but now the local school board has publicly branded her as the dyke bitch who ruined prom.
I guess the real message to students is, “Shut the hell up and stay in the closet, or else the figurative gay bashing may become a literal one.”
I wonder if intentional infliction of emotional distress is an actionable tort in Mississippi? It is in Washington. Even if she can’t sue them for that, she almost certainly can nail their hides for violating her civil rights. In federal court, of course, because no trial lawyer would try a case like this in a state court before a jury of local hicks. After she gets several million dollars from the school board she can afford to relocate to a more enlightened state where the education is better anyway, such as Massachusetts or Washington. Thank God for the contingent-fee trial lawyers who protect us from runaway accelerators and runaway school boards!
How dare those gay kids get so uppity!
You think the school board will also get beat up for being such jerks?
Of course, as we all know, Mississippi has always been a leading light of social enlightenment.
http://citizenx.org/wp-content/1930-lynching.jpg
As do many states, South Dakota has an adopt-a-highway program that allows private groups to clean up a stretch of road in exchange for a public sign touting the group’s contribution to beautification. Hundreds of groups participate.
The state rejected an application from the Sioux City Gay and Lesbian Coalition, however, saying the state does not allow official roadside signs for “advocacy groups.” That is news to groups like the College Republicans, the Yankton County Democrats, the Wheat Growers Association, and the Animal Rights Advocates of South Dakota who have adopted stretches of highway and had their groups’ names enshrined on the state’s roads. It’s not that the state forbids participation by advocacy groups; the state forbids participation by advocacy groups whose message it does not like. This the First Amendment, with its requirement of government content-neutrality, does not permit.
Faced with a likely lawsuit based on the First Amendment, Gov. William Janklow at first threatened to cancel the entire program rather than let the gay coalition participate. In the end, he “compromised” by allowing the gay coalition to participate but ordering the state to take down every group’s roadside sign. The loss of this public recognition will eliminate a significant incentive for groups to get involved.
ACLU Sues School Board For Canceling Prom
Update —
“JACKSON, Miss. — The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi today filed suit in federal court against the Itawamba County School System, which canceled the prom for one of its high schools when a student challenged a ban on bringing same-sex dates.
“The federal suit … alleges that district officials … violated the First Amendment rights of Constance McMillen, a senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School.
“‘It’s shameful and cowardly of the school district to … blame Constance, who’s only standing up for herself,’ said Christine Sun, an attorney with the ACLU national LGBT Project. ‘We will fight tooth and nail for the prom to be reinstated for all students.'”
The suit also seeks damages, legal costs, and courts.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/n.....ippi_N.htm
(quoted under fair use)
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I wonder if this is the same ACLU attorney who defended ex-GOP Sen. Larry “Toe Tapping” Craig’s constitutional right to practice his vaudeville routine in an airport restroom stall?
In other news, an Ohio private fundie school suspended a student and barred him from attending graduation ceremonies for attending a prom at a heathen public school.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/o.....teen_N.htm
@7
Damn heathens…
If Mississippi doesn’t stop the gays, Jews and blacks…who will! They threaten our “Christian” way of life…so I hear.
(sarcasm in case someone is too dumb to notice)
It’s 2010, and we still live by magic and superstition. I’m ashamed of Mississippi and of most of the human race. Just embarrassing. Using computers, satellites, and similar technology to push fear based on witches, demons, sorcerers and gods. Just embarrassing. MOSTLY embarrassing because I’M the minority in being rational and sane, MOST people do believe in magical beings. If you disagree with me, go ahead and have your local tribal demon, god, goddess, whatever, come down and tell me I’m wrong. What? They’re all “invisible” and no one can see or hear them…OOOHHHHHHHHH.
I can’t wait until the spotting of an all black penguin is brought up as a sign of the apocalypse.
@8 What kind of CRUEL BASTARDS would keep a kid from attending his high school graduation because he went to a dance? How you would feel at a reunion of your childhood friends 50 years later if that happened to you? What kind of religion is that? The so-called “Christian adults” running that madrassa aren’t much better than Muslim jihadists, in my opinion.
@5 Detestable intolerance is in full bloom everywhere this spring, it seems.
@9 If you don’t mind, I’d like to offer a small editorial correction which I think more accurately depicts the situation:
“They threaten our “white Christian” way of life…so I hear.”
@13 Good correction.
I know I’m in the fringe minority on this. From ancient Babylon and Egypt to today, MOST people have always believed in whatever god/gods/goddesses their parents raised them to believe in. NOT believing in Thor, Isis, Quin Yin, Vishnu, Enri, Zeus, Jesus, Allah makes me the outsider…but I’m ok with that. I know, your god/gods are real and everyone elses are fake. Obvious.
I PROMISE to stop ragging on superstition when the people who believe in magical invisible beings stop passing laws or trying to kill me because of what the magical invisible being told them (well, told someone in a dream 4,000 years ago, but we still believe it).
@10 Query … if an all-black penguin shows up in a tux at a private fundie school’s prom, will he be kicked out as a bad influence on the Christian kids?
@14 “I know, your god/gods are real and everyone elses are fake. Obvious.”
I don’t even want to think about how much blood has been shed because of this. Humans are stupid. I’m sorry, but you are. Rabbits don’t do this. Hell, even dogs don’t, and they’re dumber than bricks.
@14 “(well, told someone in a dream 4,000 years ago, but we still believe it)”
I don’t have anything against dreams. The Great Mother Rabbit Spirit speaks to me in dreams. I’ve learned a lot from Her. Among other things, She told me to become a Democrat and taught me not to behave like humans. Occasionally She even slips me a hot stock tip!
“I know, your god/gods are real and everyone elses are fake. Obvious.”
“the people who believe in magical invisible beings stop passing laws or trying to kill me because of what the magical invisible being told them”
I figure my imaginary Friend has no interest in seeing you die just because you don’t believe in him, her or it.
I respect your position on faith, but not what I consider to be your snide remarks. I’m a progressive and a Christian. Can you respect that? You see, this is one thing that has bothered me about some progressives. I’ve been recently and rather viciously attacked by some on the left here at HA for simply being a Christian. On the other hand, I never attack them for their not being religious. So as far as my own experience goes, Alki, these attacks are decidely one-sided.
So does this mean that the Globull Worming Religion is now out the door? or is that still the only religion that is accepted by athiests?
just curious….
I understand that progressives believe that bashing gays is abhorrent behavior that is to be condemned. I agree with this. But what’s a life-long progressive like myself supposed to do when some of these same progressives turn around and bash Christians, including myself? Shall I go along to get along? No, I won’t do that. When I’m bashed by progressives for being a Christian, whether directly or indirectly, I will say something.
@20…you have to understand something steve: being bigoted against christians is fashionable to man on the left – its not considered bigotry or hatred.
as with everything else, on both the left and the right, hypocrisy rules the day.
@21
“fasionable to man on the left” should have said
fashionable to THOSE on the left”.
Of course, when wingnuts like the KLOWN mindlessly spew scripture and bash all progressives as being Godless heathens, that’s equally abhorrent, maybe more so. Hmm, it’s like I get it from both sides on occasion. A few on the left have bashed me for being a Christian while some on the right, like the KLOWN, give Christianity a bad rep with the hateful crap he spews here in Christ’s name.
@23…welcome to being a centrist…one side is always trying to kick you in the nuts, while the other side is trying fuck you in the ass…..
Comedian Jake Johanson: “I lived in Iowa until I was 21. Then I realized that we were free to leave.”
I hope that these young women will leave Mississippi behind as soon as they can. Home isn’t home if you can’t be yourself.
People complain about the post office and the DMV, but my experiences with these institutions has been generally good and encourages my faith in the ability of government to be useful and effective. School boards on the other hand scare the crap out of me.
Puddy would rather be on the side that kicks you in the nuts. At least you see it coming and can block it.
@20 “some of these same progressives turn around and bash Christians”
I don’t bash Christianity, I like Christianity, but I do bash self-described “Christians” who don’t practice the religion they preach.
Principled Progressive Christians: please protect me from you bigoted rw brethren. Your silence is complicity.
I skipped my high school prom and went to see Husker Du instead.
@27 You haven’t succeeded in kicking anyone here yet. You’re the daily kickee.
Oh, and before I forget, pudnutz, I want to think you and Komedy Klown and the other trolls for making your asses available for our kicking enjoyment.
Steve,
I prefer the term bigot when discussing folks like the Itawamba County School Board. Dislike of gay people isn’t a Christian value, it’s something that a few bigots found in the bible and use as a justification to cling to their outdated, dysfunctional, belief systems.
@28 “I don’t bash Christianity”
Likewise, I don’t bash cute little bushy-tailed rabbits who worship the Great Mother Rabbit Spirit.
Apparently there were never any gay kids in high schools before this.
What a bunch of nonsense.
Pay attention THE DUMB BUNNY…
lebowski wrote…
You’ll never fuck Puddy in de ASS!!! Remember you claim to fuck animals. Puddy naturally picky over your bestiality!!!! Puddy stays clear of “people” like you. You felt at home with the Seattle Boeing engineer enjoying Enumclaw horse sex and the dude in Lewis County having doggie sex!
I suppose it’s too much to hope that the media would follow up on whatever retatliation occurs in this case. They take their ridiculous ritual celebrations very seriously in the South.
heh- I see that the Texas school board wants to put Jefferson Davis side by side with Abe Lincoln.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03.....as.html?hp
Instead of waiting for Texas to secede (during a time of war, no less!)as their governor talks about, can we just kick their asses out?
15 RR
Are you kidding? It’s Mississippi–they’d hang him.
Good analysis here:
http://www.wannascribble.com/2.....ecked.html
I think that Christianity is a ridiculous myth that a child could see through if not already inculcated by its parents into believing the nonsense, and I don’t mind saying so.
I also think that it is just fine that others believe stuff like that a dead man was miraculously raised up into Heaven to be the Lord and Judge of us all with basically no evidence of the agent of such transformation, the act itself, or that the Lord and Judge of us all is in any way playing the imputed roles.
I also think it’s fine that they ignore the more naturalistic and easily believable explanations that:
A) A pretty cool guy died and people made up a bunch of stories about him.
B) There was no guy and people made up a bunch of stories about him anyway.
I mean, really. Do those beleivers even KNOW any real people? They make stuff up. More or less endlessly. Today’s Republicans have been pretty good at telling compelling, but absolutely false, stories. They work because that’s how we apprehend the world.
I guess Occam’s Razor is dead. But where was I? Oh, I guess I was wondering why a bunch of people who loudly proclaim that the NT represents a “new covenant” ceaselessly and charmlessly repeat one single verse from Leviticus to justify their ugly hate of teh GAAAAAAAAAAAY.
BTW, no offense intended, Steve. This is not about you. Unless you’re about to quote Leviticus, in which case it’s the parking lot after sixth period.
BTW, I am a big believer in Something, but not a big fan of “organized” religion.
@37
Only if they promise to take Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia with them.
BTW, I kinda get maybe why the school board might do what they did, if I ignore my impulse to assume bad intent on their part. It’s like the response of secular authorities about publicly-sponsored Christmas or other holiday decorations. Many municipalities or other governmental layers prefer to try to adhere to the spirit of the First Amendment by banning ANY religious representations. Perhaps (and I understand that this is probably mind-bendingly generous on my part) this school apparatus decided that the only way to make sure that they did not discriminate is to eliminate the event itself. No event, no controversy.
I don’t believe it for a second, but to be fair, why not put it out there?
@ 40, I meant to say that “real people” make stuff up all the time, not Xians. The pronoun reference might not have been clear.
@18 “I respect your position on faith, but not what I consider to be your snide remarks.”
It’s not snide. It’s direct and straight forward and honest. It’s not snide to say I don’t believe in magical invisible beings. Sorry. It’s just my life. If you choose to believe in Jesus or Vishnu because your mom & dad told you that’s a real being, that’s fine, that’s your life. But don’t EVER expect or demand I believe in it.
Think of it THIS way. You as a progressive Christian COMPLETELY dismiss the believers in Hinduism and think they ALL (billion) are following made up fictional man made characters, not “real live” gods. Just as you totally dismiss their faith because you KNOW it’s not real, I feel the same way about ALL religions the way you feel about Hinduism. It’s nice, cute, and can do good (and bad) but I don’t think it’s real.
Here’s the deal, Steve:
I get that all “people of faith” are not total bigots. And I think you’re a fine, progressive person based on what I read here.
But still, please help me understand (respectfully):
Why shouldn’t we be really wary of people who profess their faith (“speak to the big guy”) and then expect to have rational, logical, fact based discourse?
If one is a person of “faith“, isn’t it reasonable to question what else a person has “taken on faith”?
BTW: I never confronted you as a Xtrian per se. The bearded sky god(s) just happens to be the last to fade into myth. “Faith” is THE issue for me, doesn’t matter what flavor.
@33 You aren’t confusing me and my buddies with our squirrel friends, are you? Rabbits don’t have “bushy” tails. We have cute cottontails.
kicked again @35: “You’ll never fuck Puddy in de ASS!!!”
Why would I want to?? What do you think I am?!
@36 Don’t worry, there won’t be any retaliation, becaue the (straight) kids will still get their prom:
“In the announcement, the school board encouraged the community to organize a private prom. ‘It is our hope that private citizens will organize an event for the juniors and seniors. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this causes anyone,’ the statement concluded.”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/n.....prom_N.htm
See? They’ll have a prom. It’ll be organized by private citizens, and held on private property, invitation only.
All the bigots on the school board have done is move it off school property and therefore, they believe, beyond the reach of civil rights laws and equality.
@36 “Remember you claim to fuck animals.”
Yeah well, I’m a rabbit, so you don’t expect me to fuck humans, do you? Bleccccchhh.
@38 Actually, the fundie school I posted wrote earlier is in Ohio. But they might lynch the penguin there, too. Fundie bigots are the same everywhere.
@40 On the other hand, if God wasn’t real, maybe people would have to invent Him, eh? I mean, God is so useful for so many things, how would people get along without Him?
Funny how a Christian who is bigoted wants to be respected when they can’t respect some one else themselves. Now that is hypocrisy.
Hey leftist fools, where is the hue and cry over this Olbermann shitball…
“Floyd Abrams is the foremost First Amendment advocate of our time. He also is Jewish. For any Jew to be compared to a Nazi collaborator is vile, but in the case of Floyd is simply beyond comprehension. But your offhanded inclusion of this ugly epithet points to a deeper problem that has degraded public discourse – the breakdown of civility.” No, Olbermann lost civility and his “mind” long ago. What Beebe Lake water did Olbermann, Goldstein and K drink to make them such leftist pinheads?
Well, there should be no Prom, or any other dances, anyways.
@44 “You as a progressive Christian COMPLETELY dismiss the believers in Hinduism and think they ALL (billion) are following made up fictional man made characters, not “real live” gods.”
Oh? When did I ever dismiss Hinduism?
“Just as you totally dismiss their faith”
Quit telling me what you think I’ve done or what I believe. Do you want the same done to you? Knock it off.
“It’s not snide to say I don’t believe in magical invisible beings.:
Bullshit. You go farther than just saying you don’t believe in God or whatever. You made a snide remark about “magical invisible beings”.
“the way you feel about Hinduism”
Quit making stuff. You haven’t a clue what I believe in my heart.
@45 “And I think you’re a fine, progressive person based on what I read here.”
Thank you very much. I feel the same about you and Alki. I just wish that you and others would understand that I’m not some lone progressive Christian, not even on this blog. When a broadbased swip is made towards Christianity, you take a swipe at people like Proudleftist and myself. On the other hand, if you were to comment on the hypocricy of an individual Christian or a specific group, say the people who protest military funerals, then I would take no offence at all.
“Why shouldn’t we be really wary of people who profess their faith (”speak to the big guy”) and then expect to have rational, logical, fact based discourse?”
I hope you would be wary. I am myself. On the other hand, if I consistently offer you, Zotz, rational, logical, fact based discourse over the course of several years, then I’d hope that would assuage any wariness you had of me. I do have a track record here, Zotz.
“If one is a person of “faith“, isn’t it reasonable to question what else a person has “taken on faith”?”
Certainly. I take offence when one assumes rather than questions whether or not I take other things on faith. If I have ever shown such tendencies here then please point them out to me.
“The bearded sky god(s) just happens to be the last to fade into myth.”
I don’t happen to believe in a “bearded sky God” and have said so here, though you could easily have missed that. I do not speak of the nature of God because I don’t know the nature of God. I just know what my own faith means to me. I do know that it doesn’t lead me to bash atheists, Adonis, turtle Gods or the Great Mother Rabbit Spirit. I bash wingnuts for their politics. That’s certainly one point of common ground that you, Alki and I share.
Please understand this. When progressives on a political blog bash Christianity itself, you likely alienate a good nember fellow progressives as well as fueling the fires burning in the bellies of wingnuts. After all, we’re the progressive movement, not the atheist movement. Is our tent big, but not quite big enough to include progressive Christians? When you all decide, let me know if I’m kicked out of the club or not.
OK, OK, I admit that as a Jack Mormon, and someone once even baptised into the LDS as a twenty year old, I like to make fun of ol’ Joe Smith and how he stuck his face and a stone in his hat to receive revelation from God. But I do not make fun of Mormons. The finest people I’ve ever known was a Mormon family.
@52 because dancing is so gay?
@53 well put.
Vindictive pricks?
More like stone age backwater yahoos.
By the end of this decade, all the decent people will have fled Mr. Klynical’s/Puddy’s favorite Deliverance states.
@56
steve spews: “The finest people I’ve ever known was a Mormon family.”
I gotta say I kinda agree. I am not mormon by a longshot, but every mormon person/family I have known, are very upstanding members of the community and some the nicest, most honest people I have had the pleasure of knowing..
@Steve: Thanks for the cogent reply, man.
FWIW, I was raised in a Mormon family (roots in Utah and Southern Idaho who came there towing hand carts as converts from Sweden) so we probably have some things in common.
I became an atheist at about age 25 or so after searching thru lots of other stuff.
Of note, my once conservative (I remember Skousen and other books that Beckkk now promotes in our home growing up), fervent parents (in their late 70s) are now progressive and atheists too.
Believe me I haven’t lost my awe and wonder at things (which is what I took your belief system to boil down to) but I don’t ever get superstitious about it. One of my favorite Ed Abbey quotes expresses it quite well:
@53 A wingnut complaining about incivility is like Ted Bundy complaining about crime.
@57 What are you prattling about? Putz doesn’t put anything well. Most of the time he’s downright incoherent.
@59 While I don’t disagree with your characterization of Mormons as individuals, what I don’t understand about them is how such upstanding people can vote for the likes of Bush and Cheney.
@60 While we now have plausible scientific explanations of how space filled with hydrogen atoms morphed into a universe of galaxies, stars, planets, carbon dioxide and oxygen and water, and all sorts of wondrous creatues, I still don’t understand where space, time, and hydrogen atoms came from in the first place. Where they created, if so by what or whom, or where they always just there? We rabbits know the creationists’ 6,000-year-old earth is bullshit, because our species goes back much farther than that (and our salmon friends tell us they’ve been around 40 million years), but we don’t understand how it all started if something or someone didn’t make it.
You mean NYS, PA, OH, etc? They are leaving the rust states in droves.
@all: Here is a NYT article on pushback to Beckkk’s latest “run from your church if they mention social justice” craziness. Significantly, it includes a blast from a Mormon church historian at UUtah.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03.....stice.html
THE DUMB BUNNY is totally incoherent again. John Wayne Gacy was your hero. He also liked Jimmae Cahhhhhhhhhhrter.
@steve: Just a thought, as you desire.
If you want to understand the USA and religion, particularly Mormons and other apocalyptic cults like the Assembly of God and Seventh Day Adventists, google: [Burned Over District] and [Second Great Awakening], and read around.
Lots of the craziness that infects our country and culture started in the early 1800s when only about 10% of us were religious (belonged to a church).
Here’s a couple wiki pages to get you started:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burned-over_district
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S....._Awakening
@60 “Thanks for the cogent reply, man.”
You’re welcome, Zotz. The family on my Mom’s side were Lutherans living in Beaver, Utah. There was only one church in town. heh- Jack Mormons. Now I understand that Beaver residents at least have a choice of alcoholic treatment centers. How’s that for cultural progress?
“Believe me I haven’t lost my awe and wonder at things (which is what I took your belief system to boil down to)”
When I wheel my JMI NGT 12.5 split-ring reflector telescope out to the patio and spend an evening of stargazing or photographing the planets, galaxies or nebula, that’s what it’s all about, the awe and wonder.
“I don’t ever get superstitious about it”
Me too.
“I became an atheist at about age 25 or so after searching thru lots of other stuff.”
Hey, I once thought that Carlos Casteneda wasn’t a charleton and that Don Juan wasn’t a fictional character. My bad.
@40 “I think that Christianity is a ridiculous myth that a child could see through”
Some say that about equality. I disagree with both assertions. But I respect other points of view.
“I mean, really. Do those beleivers even KNOW any real people?”
Hmm, I thought my friends, family and co-workers were real. Damn, now you’ve planted seeds of doubt. I’ll check on that and report back later.
“They make stuff up.”
You mean like the progressive, non-believing Alki did earlier?
“Today’s Republicans have been pretty good at telling compelling, but absolutely false, stories.”
You just went from Christians to Republicans without skipping a beat. They’re not the same thing, no matter what Republicans like the KLOWN might say about it.
“I guess Occam’s Razor is dead.”
Simplicity is still practical.
“BTW, no offense intended, Steve. This is not about you. Unless you’re about to quote Leviticus, in which case it’s the parking lot after sixth period.”
No offence taken, Daddy. And I doubt that you’ll find me quoting Leviticus, unless it’s to point out some hypocricy in something the KLOWN spews here.
I would once get into the ultra-violence at the drop of a hat, Daddy. For instance, I know from experience that if I beat someone to within an inch of their life with a shovel, they’ll never fuck with me again. I know from experience that if I take a gun from some asshole threatening me with it and then hold to his head, he’ll immediately stop acting the ass and will start begging for his life. Sigh! Since rediscovering my faith, I don’t react that way anymore. There’s other ways to deal with those situations. I chalk one up for Jesus.
At Sharples we’d have met at the sandbox.
@68 I appreciate that, Zotz. I’ve done a lot of my own investigation.
For an interesting read on early Mormons, I recommend Nightfall at Nauvoo by Samuel Taylor. Believe me, it’ll make your blood curdle.
Not all Christians are wingnuts. That’s only what wingnuts like the KLOWN would have you believe:
http://www.talk2action.org/
@66 Good find, Zotz.
Tell this guy that he is being disrespectful to Religion.
Bottom line you hard liners have hijacked Religion, to no longer be Religion, but Nazism!
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING.....tml?hpt=C1
@64: The old prime mover gambit, eh?
Well, when you consider that there are literally billions and billions of galaxies in the universe that we can currently see, and that we’re located in the arm of an average one, I’m guessing that’s up to your and my imagination until we can see further…
I like to imagine that we’ll meet up with his/her/it’s descendant(s) some day, assuming we don’t off ourselves as a species first. Then we can ask them who they think the prime mover is and have a beer or something.
@steve:
My favorite spots for star gazing are in Canyonlands and the top of Bear Tooth Pass.
@68
What a moron!
Steve,
Isn’t God’s heavenly creation great? Imagine when His Son comes back and He has covered your sins with His blood and your name is in His Book of Life, you’ll be able to explore His creation at any time!
@76 – I would be offended to be called an Atheist, but Puddy get a hold of yourself! Sounds like you been eating some good mushrooms.
@74 I’ve never really observed from a great site like those, although I do have dark skies out here by Hood Canal. Unfortunately, I also have cloudy skies out here by Hood Canal. I do most of my observing in the fall when we tend to have clear nights, there’s lots of objects in the sky, and it’s not freezing cold.
@76 You got that right, Puddy. What a wonder it all is.