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GAY RIGHTS

Indiana Students and Teacher Fight for 'Gay-Free' Prom

Teacher Diana Medley backs 'traditional' prom, saying gay people have 'no purpose'

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t +

Image: VCStar

An Indiana school made headlines this weekend when students, a teacher, and a local pastor attempted to make their prom gay-free. Having failed on that front after a national backlash, the group is now proposing to hold a separate "traditional" prom that will exclude gay students.

The gay-free prom has support from local pastor Bill Phegley and from Diana Medley, a special education teacher at a neighboring school. She's come under fire for stating that being gay is a choice and that gay people have "no purpose." She explained that the traditional prom is for students who share her views that homosexuality is "offensive."

High-profile gay activists including Dan Savage have called for Medley to be fired from her job or retrained, on the grounds that her views could harm special needs students in her care. A Change.org petition with over 17,000 signatures calls for the same thing. But her school principal has released a statement defending her right to free speech.

Via Salon.com.
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Do you defend the right of these students to hold a straights-only prom?

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364 Comments (view in Forum)

  • WVMountYouNear
    !
    People SHOULD have the right to gather without open perversion. Forcing ANYONE to allow open homosexualism to be on open display is no different than advertising the event to be a mass orgy: BOTH are perversions. No rocket science; No brainer; No "political correctness".
  • Cheenoguy
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    @WVMountYouNear
    That's find they can go to their den of ignorance (you probably call it church) and worry about who loves who there. Might be a good idea to keep the kids away from the priest, however.
    Who the hell made you an authority on who other people are allowed to love? Your imaginary friend that impregenated a teenage girl who was engaged to someone else? His "son" who spent all his time with 12 guys who abandoned their families to go on a "mission"?
  • WVMountYouNear
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    @Cheenoguy : Ummm. Who made me an "authority"? No one. Never claimed to be an authority.~ That said, neither are you nor any other human being. The "Authority" is a bit higher than us.~ But hey. Do as you will... And there are those lined up to make bestiality legal also... Many people love their pets and desire the right to sexually and legally bind themselves also... Your 'movement" is nothing new to the world. If you can make it through the day without throwing up? Well?~ But none of that changes the Truth. And that's ALL on you to accept or reject. You have to leave me out of that, lol.(wink)

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  • jessejaymes
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    Here's one for you. If the school has a open to all prom and a church decides to have a gay free prom do you deny their right to do so? If the gay community decides to hold a gay only prom somewhere do you deny their right to do so? You can have gay pride parades but straights can't have straight pride parades because you raise such a stink. Why is that?
  • Jet_Silverman
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    @jessejaymes Straight people haven't gone through want gay people have, so your analogy makes no sense. But since nothing is more important to Christians than spreading hate and bigotry, churches should be able to have "gay free" proms.
  • jessejaymes
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    @Jet_Silverman Equality doesn't mean "catch up until you're equal" Equality means that people all have the same opportunity. If gays can have a pride parade (which I'm not opposed to) then straight should be able to have a pride parade. If Latinos can have a pride parade then whites should be able to have a pride parade. I'm the worlds biggest supporter of equal rights. But equal rights means everyone has the rights as everyone else. Not PAYBACK exclusionary rights.

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  • Denizen_Kate
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    According to a long-dead philosopher whose name I can't recall, romantic love is a form of temporary insanity designed to propogate the species.
  • DARSB
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    On their own dime, they can have any sort of bigot-fest they like, the 1st amendment protecting the wise as well as the foolish. But I would strongly oppose any public funds going toward this.
  • jessejaymes
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    Oh absolutely oppose any public funds going towards that. ABSOLUTELY. But you are correct. They have the right because the precedent has been set with gay pride parades. One sexual orientation has exclusive rights so does the other side.
  • cubeshaker
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    first most proms are paid by the students going to it. Second IF public funds were used... the gay kids parents pay into the funds so you nace no business excluding their kids.
  • Speedieg
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    @jessejaymes gay people don't exclude straight people in their events. Straight people work in gay businesses and do go to gay prided parades and participate in them. The difference here is one of exclusion. It's hateful and bigoted.
  • jessejaymes
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    @Speedieg "Gay people don't exclude straight people in their event". Well no, I guess they don't but I find it inappropriate for gays to invite straights to support their pride parades then go around cross dressing nearly naked and handing out phallic lollipops to children and having a hoot when the kid who doesn't know any better wants at the lollipop. That's just perverted.
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  • hwyangel
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    "White" is the physical description of someones skin. If all skin colors are acceptable then the prohibition of any skin color is discrimination.
    "Gay" is a behavior. If any behavior is acceptable then the prohibition of any behavior would be discrimination.(Specifically sexual behavior)
  • Keyjo
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    @hwyangel
    Homosexual is the biological make up of 10+% of the human species. If left handedness and all biological makeups are acceptable, then the prohibition of biological makeup is discrimination. God made me Gay! Thank God for making me Gay, uncommon, not common.
  • hwyangel
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    @Keyjo

    Homosexuality is not a physical description.
    By the same reasoning it is natural for a child to prefer cake for dinner, but with a little training a child can learn to appreciate healthier food choices. But a child can not learn to change or control the level of melanoma in their skin.
  • Keyjo
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    @hwyangel
    Michael Jackson would beg to differ, if he was alive. He changed the pigmentation of his skin. Even though he was able to "bleach" his skin, he was still African-American.
    As far as your food analogy: if a kid is allergic to dairy products, you can (cruelly) force him to drink milk, but it will still make him sick!
    Being homosexual is proven to be a biological occurrence. You can't change the way God and nature created you.
    With me, like the aforementioned dairy allergic child, sex with a female marks me ill!
    No offense, but for me, the female anatomy is repulsive; litterally!
    And as much as you speculate about it, you are flat wrong.

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  • jessejaymes
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    The problem gays face is the one about Religion in school in reverse. If you allow one religion in you have to allow them all. The "Silver Fox" on Redondo in Long Beach is a gay male club. A rather ROWDY NOTORIOUS gay male club. They were sued by some straights couples for not allowing them in. And lost. But they didn't change their policy. Women are not allowed in gay male bathouses. Gays can have a gay pride parade but won't stand for straight pride parades. I don't dislike you Keyo and I know you are gay. You say so in your profile. We could get along just fine in real life. But you can't be exclusionary as a gay and then demand others not return the favor. It's one or the other.
  • Fishbone345
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    @jessejaymes "Not in a church that is not funded with tax dollars they don't."
    As long as that church doesn't use it tax free status and then support political causes with that same tax free money! CoughMormonscoughcough. CoughProp8supportcoughcough!

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  • Vance1
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    @thatgirl
    I wouldnt want my children or grand children forced to be around a group of gays!
    My children and grand children have rights also.

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  • AnnieO
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    Well, we certainly don't want all those straight kids to catch "gay," since it is contagious. I hear it's possible to get it from someone by sharing the same punch bowl.
  • Rocker
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    I think there is an inoculation for that now. I've been diagnosed with 'chronic meanness' and developing a case of 'trifling' to go along with it. I'm on 17,650 milligrams of Placebo a day to counter-act the effects. Good stuff. Tastes like M&Ms!!
  • johnCrow
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    i voted no, but only because it was a yes or no and though i believe in equal rights for all citizens my opinion would depend on whether or not this was done on private time. i couldn't really agree with infringing on the rights of those people, however misguided i feel they are, to have whatever opinions and beliefs they see fit on their own time. if they were using their classroom as a political/bully pulpit instead of education then yes i believe they should be repremanded, not fired if this is the first incident. this kind of thing at school creates an environment of distrust and malign for anyone that may happen to be gay. public school is not the place to facilitate beliefs that belittle any other human being. it is a place to learn things of an academic nature to hopefully help prepare as many kids as we can to be grown ups soon after and put back in to society what they have been given.

    gay rights should not even be an issue, it's an issue of every legal american citizen having the same standing as everyone else as far as rights go. at the same time i'm all for your right to disagree, but i do not believe religious organizations or religious minded citizens have the right to deny and legal U.S. citizen privileges that pertain to services provided by the state or federal government available to citizens of the United States of America. that is as cut and dried as it can possibly get.

    my grandfather lost both his legs fighting for the nation we all equally inhabit. he served 24 years in the U.S.M.C and saw things none of us have to see because he and others of his character before and after him did the same thing. i remember as a kid there was a story on the news about someone burning a flag here stateside in protest and he told me it was detestable, vulgar, and shameful, but we fly that flag so that people can protest and believe without fear of government recourse as long as they don't threaten the safety of others. so for me, i have to go with what i was taught, if you are a citizen you have an equal share.
  • RoFroh
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    If these kids and these two bible thumpers wanna foot the bill for a prom I say go for it but if any school district money is used I say CLEAN HOUSE fire the teacher, the principal, and any members of the school board that approved or knew about it!!!.....
  • Denizen_Kate
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    As long as they pay for it themselves and don't expect the public school system to host it or sanction it in any way, they should feel free to have their own little party off-campus. If people are determined to send a message of hate and intolerance, and to engage our youth in such an endeavor, they certainly have that right. However, IMO, they should be ashamed of themselves.
  • jessejaymes
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    Kate I actually think this a good thing. The more of it that happens the more people turn away from that segment of society because they don't want to be associated with them. This is a more serious version of "Footloose". You can't be from dancing and you can't keep people from being who they are. It has to go through the minefields to win the way.
  • Mytwocents007
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    Is it really hate and intolerance to choose not to be around gay people ??? I dont 'hate' gay people , personaly i find it unnatural and dont go out of my way to befriend any gays -nor do i go out of my way to offend them , however if my not wishing to be arround people with a different lifestyle than mine is offensive to them then thats not really my problem .
  • Denizen_Kate
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    @Mytwocents007 - " ... personaly i find it unnatural and dont go out of my way to befriend any gays -nor do i go out of my way to offend them ... " You seem to have gotten past the hate, but the intolerance remains. Maybe try a little empathy? You seem like a good and well-meaning person to me.
  • Mytwocents007
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    @Denizen_Kate for me our bodies are designed for certain things and not for others -maybe being a man i see it differently then you do as a woman -i see the anus as have only one purpose -and yes i know that not all gays engage in this certain act .I do tolerate them -i just dont want to befriend any .
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  • jessejaymes
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    @Vance1 Knock yourself out Vance. I'm fully in support of people having the right to make total fools of themselves. I use that right often.

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  • Chatikh
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    As for the teacher's free speech rights, it's perfectly within her rights to demand everyone without pure blue aryan eyes receive ocular dye injections so they could have faces she could bear to look at. She would still rightfully be "fired or retrained." She's dealing with kids, who all reputable psychologists agree are more likely to kill themselves than change their orientation.

    Secondly, if we're talking about keeping morality in the prom, I assume she also wants to ban all the teens who are having pre-marital sex or sinning in any other way from going to the prom.... No? Then maybe she's just singling a single group out, values be damned.
  • Denizen_Kate
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    The problem with that is our constitution, which prevents a majority from infringing upon the equal rights of a minority. You cannot vote to suppress the rights of others.
  • Chatikh
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    Like Denizen said, even a 99% majority cannot infringe on the rights of a 1% minority. Blame it on the constitution. However, this does not seem to be an issue in Russia at the moment. If you would feel more free there, go wherever freedom takes you.
  • Chatikh
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    @kyrebel They absolutely should not and any attempts to do so will be fought by me. Examples of such include: dictating by law or force which sexual practices you can practice with other consenting adults; dictating by law or force who those adult partners may be; dictating by law or force that certain religious beliefs are illegal; dictating by law or force that you admit a deity exists in which you deny its existence (Allah, Krishna, Zeus, Mother Gaia, Flying Spaghetti Monster, or God); dictating by law or force that you alter your body in any way, except if you are deemed mentally unfit and the alterations are medical in nature; ...... Should I keep going? And before you respond that one of those is happening, please show because I will spend the necessary 10 minutes proving it's not but I'd rather not. Feel free to add some more things that neither the majority nor the minority may force the other to do.

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  • Thegrif
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    So whats the problem? If they want a gay free prom then let them have a gay free prom. If gay kids want an all gay prom let them have it.
    Or let the students decide gay or not gay, vote on it, majority takes it.
    Hell its how we got do everything else.
  • Thegrif
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    @jessejaymes well they will say we can only afford one prom, but still let the kids decide, a prom with everyone included, or no prom at all.
  • jessejaymes
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    @Thegrif I don't care what the school does. The law will determine that. I think the issue is whether a church can hold an alternative prom and I suspect they can.
  • AMSCountryboy
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    Sure. People can act like dumbasses and do pointless things if they choose... free country and all. How many students are really gonna blow off the actual school prom for this crap? But really why must people cause an issuse where there is no issue though? This teacher needs to be a special ed student herself
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