Openly Gay Georgia Teen, Boyfriend Attend Prom without a Hitch
Submitted by GLAAD on Apr 19, 2010
An openly gay, Georgia teen and his boyfriend attended prom together on Saturday in what was reported to be an enjoyable evening for the couple.
Derrick Martin, 18, attracted national media attention after officials at his rural Cochran, Georgia high school gave him permission to bring his boyfriend to the April 17 dance.
Prom season has stirred controversy across the country this year as more and more LGBT students are standing up for their right to bring a same-sex date.
GLAAD will continue to follow the media’s coverage of LGBT students. Updates can be found on GLAADblog.org
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
OV Social
To all you bigots, tea partiers and Palinites...its time you all grow up and realize that giving LGBTQ community their full rights as citizens of this country, which includes marriage , proms, romance, etc. isn't going to create a stampede of people pushing each other out of the way to become gay .
You are either born that way or you aren't.
This BS about prohibition in schools needs to stop.
It's amazing that this is even news . The title sounds like one of those "The Onion" headlines (ie: "Boy, 15, who had never swam went to local pool to learn to swim, everything went fine" or " Hodgeman, 56, drove to work on I-95, got there without incident")
I'm constantly disgusted by these types of stories. They remind me that there are so many bigots and haters, like the FRC, that it's news when nothing controversial happens after an otherwise innocuous act of integration.
I applaud this school for taking a much needed step in equality!
the prom and no one died. I wonder if any of the other students turned gay while they were there. Maybe, it allowed some people there to understand that gay kids are just like all the rest. They want to have a good time and dance and laugh.
I am glad to see these people standing up for themselves and demanding to be treated fairly. Gives an old man hope for the future of the gay and lesbian population.
....how a school is run. Students decide who can and cannot go to prom. The students have a right to dictate who they want at their prom. They dictate who is President of their school, who is prom king and queen...dictating who gets to come is sadly their choice.
This happens to be where the students did not have a problem and stood up for their friends.
But that is the difference. You cannot force what you believe on others no matter how right you think you are...that is not your right to do so.
People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid. - Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
So students can discriminate? If it was decided that people of a certain race or religion were banned (or that only people of a given race / religion could attend) then that would be OK?
In a gay prom they should be forced to have those that hate gay waltz in?
People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid. - Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Gay proms are held by GLBT groups, not the schools . A school prom should not discriminate against students based on orientation or ideology.
...that makes it even worse.
A group that claims to want equality dismissing people in an attempt to keep the party "pure"? I don't think so.
People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid. - Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Do gay proms explicitly ban people? I can see removing people who are disruptive (or banning people who claim they will disrupt), but I do not see where gay proms say that only those who agree with homosexuality can attend.
Why would an opponent of homosexuality want to attend a gay prom?