蜜桃传媒

Stacy Dawson, an openly gay junior at Scott County Central High School in Missouri, simply wants to attend the school prom this spring with his boyfriend. But his school, like many others across the country, prohibits same-sex couples from attending dances together.听

The 蜜桃传媒 today urged the school to rescind its policy, calling it an unconstitutional infringement on Dawson鈥檚 right to free expression under the First Amendment.

鈥淧rom is an important milestone in high school, and I would be devastated if I鈥檓 not allowed to attend prom with my boyfriend,鈥� Dawson said. 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 fair that a school can randomly disregard students鈥� rights because it doesn鈥檛 agree with who you want to take to prom.鈥�

In a letter to the school and the Scott County Central School District, the 蜜桃传媒 threatened legal action unless the policy is rescinded by Feb. 25. Outlined in the student handbook, the policy states that 鈥淸h]igh school students will be permitted to invite one guest, girls invite boys and boys invite girls.鈥� Dawson was told by a school administrator that the school board refused to revise it. 听

鈥淒enying Stacy鈥檚 right to bring his boyfriend to prom is blatantly discriminatory and in violation of his constitutional rights,鈥� said Alesdair Ittelson, staff attorney for the 蜜桃传媒. 鈥淭his unlawful policy reminds us that anti-gay sentiment still serves as a platform for schools to deny the rights of same-sex couples. We call upon the school district to end this unconstitutional policy and recognize Stacy鈥檚 rights without further delay.鈥� 听

The 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 letter states that under the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 1969 decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the school cannot censor Dawson鈥檚 protected right to free expression. The decision explains that students do not 鈥渟hed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gates.鈥� 听

The letter also cites a Mississippi case, McMillen v. Itawamba County School District, in which听 听a federal court held that a student鈥檚 effort to 鈥渃ommunicate a message by wearing a tuxedo and to express her identity through attending prom with a same-sex date鈥� was 鈥渢he type of speech that falls squarely within the purview of the First Amendment and such expression is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.鈥�

In another case cited in the letter, Fricke v. Lynch, a school district had to pay more than $116,000 in damages and attorneys鈥� fees for denying a student鈥檚 right to bring a same-sex date to a school dance.