The
Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender civil rights organization, and PROMO, Missouri’s statewide
organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
equality through legislative action, electoral politics, grassroots
organizing, and community education, are applauding administrators at
Scott County Central High School in Missouri for changing outdated
school policy to allow gay student Stacy Dawson to take his boyfriend to
the senior prom. The Southern Poverty Law Center threatened legal
action after Dawson was told by the school that the student handbook
bars students from taking dates of the same sex to the prom. One day
later, the school modified the handbook.
“We congratulate school leaders for standing up for all students and
allowing Stacy to take part in the time-honored tradition of prom,” said
HRC President Chad Griffin. “School leaders have a duty to all students
and should be striving to create an environment that is inclusive and
welcoming, not one that marginalizes young people and says who they are
is wrong. In this case, they did the right thing.”
A.J. Bockelman, Executive Director of PROMO, also commends the decision
of the school leaders, “We are glad to see that the high school has
come to its senses and made the right decision. Prom should be an
enjoyable inclusive event. All students need to feel safe and secure in
school.”
According to media reports, Dawson called prom "an important milestone
in high school, and I would be devastated if I'm not allowed to attend
prom with my boyfriend. He added, "It isn't fair that a school can
randomly disregard students' rights because it doesn't agree with who
you want to take to prom."
The case of anti-LGBT discrimination comes on the heels of another
story in Indiana last week, where a small group of students and
community members worked to ban gay and lesbian students from attending
the Sullivan High School prom. In that case, school officials did the
right thing, saying the prom is open to all students and nobody will be
excluded, including gay and lesbian students.
Discrimination against LGBT students is widespread and can have devastating consequences. Last year, HRC released a groundbreaking youth survey
that illustrates the obstacles LGBT youth face. The survey found that
42 percent of LGBT youth say they live in a community that isn’t
accepting of LGBT people. Nearly one-third of youth say their biggest
problems in life include not being accepted by their family, bullying at
school and a fear of living openly. And 92 percent of youth say they
hear negative messages from others about being LGBT.