Pam posted yesterday on this extraordinary—-yet unsurprising, since this is a long-standing tactic used by white Southerners to exclude black students—-story on how, rather than go to a prom with lesbian guests, the students at Itawamba Agricultural High School went to a private prom that Constance McMillen and her date weren’t invited to. What’s interesting to me is how deftly the parents and school administrators exploited the worst tendencies of adolescents, namely their willingness to crush any sign of non-conformity and blame the victim for it. The Facebook page Constance, Quit Yer Crying made their views clear—-regardless of whether or not hating people for gay is reasonable, standing up for your rights is “crying”. Never mind that there’s nothing whinier than saying that the prom is supposed to be the best night of your life and that no one should interrupt that with their demands to be treated like a human being.
Obviously, the adults in this situation are mentally children themselves. And the whole thing has been an ugly peek into the conservative mindset, and not only how hateful, childish wingnut adults teach their children to hate, but how to put together a disingenuous argument to bundle up your unrestrained bigotry into something that sounds more reasonable. This was on full display in the comments section of this blog that posted on the whole debacle. A commenter who claims to be a student at the high school—-and there’s no reason to doubt this—-defended the conspiracy to have a whole ‘nother prom just so Constance couldn’t go.
**Open Minded Readers Only**
I am a senior at IAHS, and I’ve known Constance for the last 6 years. Please hear our side of the story before you decide on our fate.
Already learning the art of whining about the “liberal media”, and other whines about how straight white Christians are the most oppressed people on the planet evah!
The reason the senior class boycotted the actual prom was not because we hate gays.
Empty disavowals of bigotry used to excuse unbelievable acts of bigotry.