poeticdesires

Category: GLBTQ

  • Politics & Prom Part II

    The ACLU is suing the Mississippi school board to reinstate the prom, saying now that the dance was taken away from the entire school, they must fight for the rights of all the students to have their senior prom.

    LINK: ACLU files suit against Mississippi school for canceling prom

    This case has stuck with me since I first read it. I couldn’t help but think back on my experiences in high school, the injustice I witnessed first hand, and the continuing grief I have for not doing anything about it.

    I went to an all girls Catholic School. During my senior year, a set of twins were our class President & VP. They were awesome people, liked by most in the class. But they had a problem: their parents didn’t finishing paying for their tuition for the year.

    I remember getting fitted for my graduation dress, all of us in a line waiting our turn, and overhearing the conversation of one of the twins about the situation. The faculty had threatened to not allow her & her sister into prom unless their tuition was paid in full by the day of the event. I couldn’t understand this logic. The twins paid for their prom experience themselves: tickets, dresses, hair, limo. They wanted to have fun with their friends. Why were they being punished for the faults of their parents?

    My senior prom was pretty fun. I looked smoking hot (I’d been participating in a local exercise campaign our new gym teacher had sponsored). I laughed and spent time with my friends. I danced and took pictures of everyone (including the teacher I had a crush on). It was a great night.

    But, when I went to use the restroom, I happened to have a clear view of the front sign in table, a mere fifty feet away. The twins had arrived: beautiful, dates on their arms, wanting to go join their friends in the fun. Our principle, not the nicest of people (as most principles tend to be), physically stood in their way, keeping them from entering the ballroom.

    And I just stood there, speechless. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe it was happening. We went to a Catholic School, which supposedly preached the love of God and the compassion of Jesus. Yet, over a petty money dispute, what could have been one of the best nights of their lives was taken away from two wonderful girls.

    To this day, I regret not doing something, not standing up for them in their time of need. If only trying to distract the principle, or trying to convince her to let them in. Why didn’t we band together as a class and try to pay their balance? Why didn’t we demand they be let in? Why didn’t we do something?

    The simplest and easiest answer I have is we were stupid teenagers who didn’t know better. But part of me doesn’t believe that. Part of me knows it’s because, when you’re that age, you’re selfish. Only your life matters. No one wants to hear about the sorrows of others. (I didn’t tell my friends about all my family members who died when I was in school. I figured no one wanted to hear it.)

    The twins didn’t come to either of the graduation ceremonies (we had two). I haven’t seen them or spoken to them about the incident.

    I just don’t understand how schools can be like this: concerned with their own selfish interests and not looking out for their students, all of their students.

  • Politics & Prom

    I just finished reading an article on USAToday about an 18 year old Mississippi lesbian who, after being denied the right to bring her girlfriend to prom, contacted her ACLU chapter for help, only for the school board to find the pussy/asshole way around the situation: they canceled the prom for the school and suggested people set up a “private prom”.

    LINK: Mississippi prom canceled after lesbian’s date request

    There are so many things about this ordeal that infuriates me. So, I’m making a list.

    1) Why is it so bad if this girl brings her date to prom? Why do people even care? I get that it’s the south & hatred and bigotry live on, but really? We have to take a stand over the prom? Do they really think their society will be up ended and catastrophically changed just because a lesbian wants to share a night of fun with her girlfriend? She’s a senior and is probably leaving to go off to college, or somewhere else a little more inviting, in less than two months. Can’t they just let this slide?

    2) What if she just wanted to bring her friend from another school? Would the policy still count? I know when I was a teenager, the only two dates I ever brought to dances were friends. There was no romantic involvement whatsoever. So what if? Would their bigoted policy still take effect? If not, I smell lawsuit. If yes, I’m angered even more.

    3) I HATE that the school had the balls to basically tell the parents and students, “Have your own party, cause then you can admit or deny whoever you want. Keep discrimination alive!” It infuriates me to no end when people promote hatred/discrimination/phobia of ‘the other’ and pass it off as ‘a choice.’ Sure, it’s a choice for you to be assholes, but that doesn’t mean you should be. I hope someone organizes a prom and then invites the lesbian and her girlfriend to come, just to stick it to the school.

    & 4) The dumbest part of the story, just for its shear misogyny: A dress? Really? The girl was being denied access to the dance not just because she wanted to bring her girlfriend, but also because she wanted to wear a tuxedo. Can someone explain to me why this is important, AT ALL?!? The way I see it, if she buys the ticket, that girl should able to roll up in a tank top, shorts, and flip flops. How can attire matter in any way, shape or form, as long as no one is naked?

    It’s story like this that get me fired up about our country. How are we suppose to be ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’ or ‘have equal protection under the law’ when homophobia and misogyny are somehow ingrained in society?

    This is not what I believe in. This is not the America I want to live in.

  • When It’s Easy to Be Ignorant

    Lately, I’ve been thinking about the issue of putting gay marriage/partnerships to a vote. People can’t understand why, when you poll folks one month they are for equality for gays, but then the next month it’s voted down.

    Today I read an article in Newsweek, suggesting maybe it is the portrayal of gay characters in television today influencing people’s opinions on the matter: King of Queens. I personally disagree with their argument. They cited how some characters are too stereotypical, how there are more bisexuals instead of lesbians now, and how flaming some contestants have been on Project Runway. Stretch? I would say yes.

    I think the votes in California and Massachusetts, to name a few, have precious little to do with television representations of gays. Instead, I think it has to do with the medium GLBTQ rights groups have chosen to push their fight. Sending the issue to the ballot box is a bad idea.

    I remember when I was little, going with my mother to the polls, standing behind the curtain with her while she voted. I thought it was awesome, how secretly you were given this time to help choose the destiny of our country. Unfortunately, it is the secrecy that’s the problem. When you are in a voting booth, you can be a bigot without anyone knowing.

    Putting the rights of any sector of society to a vote is ridiculous and cruel. Of course people voted it down. Can you imagine what would have happened if Jim Crow laws had to be voted down one by one? I’m sure it would have looked somewhat similar to LGBTQ struggles now. Sure, the polling would suggest some tolerance, but giving people the privacy of a voting booth allows them to keep the status quo without being called on it.

    State by state voting is not the answer. This has to be a federal fight. Slaves were freed through the Emancipation Proclamation. Jim Crow was ended by the Civil Rights Act & Brown v. Board of Education. Big society altering issues need big government’s help to push them forward. Our country does not change its evil ways easily, by any means.

    Make people go on the floor of the House and argue why they are not allowing highly trained men and women into our armed forces or kicking out the ones we already have. Make Senators explain why two loving committed adults aren’t allowed to bond their lives together legally, why they’re not allowed to make a family by adopting unwanted children, or why they can’t hold each other when it is time for them to pass on from this life.

    Call them on their bullshit. Make them say the hateful awful things in their hearts, and then use it against them in their next election. Make their constituents see who they really are. And testify before their committees. Make them hear your stories. Make them witness the harm their hatered causes.

    Stop giving people the voting booth excuse. Piecemeal is not the answer. Go for the piese de resistance.

  • Senate May Vote on DADT Tomorrow

    According to the The Daily Beast, Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand, the freshman New York Democrat who replaced Hillary Clinton, may introduce an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill tomorrow to put an 18-month moratorium on dismissing gay service members from the military under the Pentagon’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

    This is what we’ve been asking the President to do for months . Now it seems a freshman Senator, who was interrupted by Sen. Leahy during her introduction of Judge Sotomayor at the Latina’s hearing today, may have a new claim to fame.

    If this happens, my hope for this country will be renewed.

    Link to Politics Daily article here. And link to Gillibrand’s article on the Daily Beast concerning DADT here.