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I don’t know what is happening in our country lately, but when did it become acceptable to harass the gay population on a regular basis? I mean, seriously? First Constance McMillen can’t go to prom and wear a tux, and now, in Mississippi, another girl was left out of the yearbook for wearing a tux in her photo.
Copiah County School District in Mississippi left Ceara Sturgis out of the school’s 2010 yearbook because she is gay and wearing a tux in her senior photo. The Mississippi ACLU is involved now and wrote a letter in October demanding the school use the submitted photo, but the school refused. Her mother did expect at least a reference to her daughter on the senior page, only to find that they wouldn’t even acknowledge her existence!
Her mother, Veronica Rodriguez, says, “They didn’t even put her name in it. I was so furious when she told me about it. Ceara started crying and I told her to suck it up. Is that not pathetic for them to do that? Yet again, they have crapped on her and made her feel alienated.”
She goes on to say, “It’s like she’s nobody there, even though she’s gone to school there for 12 years. They mentioned none of her accolades, even though she’s one of the smartest students there with wonderful grades. They’ve got kids in the book that have been busted for drugs. There’s even a picture of one of the seniors who dropped out of school. I don’t get it. Ceara is a top student. Why would they do this to her?”
She basically grew up here, but she feels so isolated. And it’s not the students. The students love and accept her. The kids even nominated her for prom queen, but she ducked out, knowing officials would never let her be prom queen.”
The school district maintains its decision based on federal legal precedent. What the hell does that mean? Their school even has a policy that “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion or sex.” The ACLU has not commented on whether it planned any legal action based on the school’s decision.
This is deplorable. It is embarrassing as Americans to witness such blatant discrimination directed towards our nation’s youth. With each generation, we should become a more enlightened, more compassionate than the previous one. Instead, you have people spewing hate and bigotry over what? Over a photo of a student in a tuxedo? She wasn’t nude, she wasn’t wearing anything offensive, she was clearly dressed up and excited to have her photo taken. Does it feel good to make a young woman cry because you are uncomfortable with her sexual orientation? I am so sick and tired of these people making the rest of this country look bad. There hypocrisy, hatred, and mistreatment of others has no place in the 21st century, has no place in a civilized, modern society. It gets worse.
Constance McMillen is still dealing with the aftershocks of being denied a prom, and then being sent to a fake one. (For more on her story, read my blog at http://www.twodaymag.com/blog) Well, the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church announced it plans on picketing her graduation! Say what?
States the press release: “We will picket the graduation of Itawamba Agricultural High School to remind the parents, teachers, and students of this nation that God said ‘Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind, it is abomination.’ This generation has been raised to believe that they can live for the devil and still go to heaven, that God has no standards and the biggest lie of all---that God loves everyone.”
Holy shit, I don’t think we are in Kansas, anymore! There are no words to describe how despicable these people are, how deplorable their behavior. Why on earth are these people so concerned with how other people are living their lives? Even if you are a religious person, isn’t the golden rule, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’?”
I am proud to be a part of Generation Equality, because I think, regardless of what the media puts out there, that there are more good people in the world than bad, that we do all want to be loved and give love, and that our greatest gift to one another is understanding and compassion. I refuse to live in a world where people hurt one another out of their own fear and ignorance. I refuse to accept that people would deny another’s happiness out of that fear and bigotry. Whether there are two other people in the world that feel the way I do, or two billion, I know that each positive ripple we send out in to the universe can create big waves of change, if we all just focus on what brings us together, what makes us human, what transcends time and space. In the end, it’s all about love.
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...and as a side note, the Westboro Baptist Church is going to picket the graduation ceremonies of a PUBLIC Itawamba high school. I wonder how well this church would take it if the municipality picketed them? Maybe impose, oh say, TAXES on them? I bet they would call down all the fire and frogs their old testament grump of a god could deliver on short notice.
These pulpit-pounders have had the upper hand for generations in this country and have squandered their dominance. Very few things have evolved or improved in society under this kindergarten philosophy. Now they are losing their grip and are squeezing tighter in desperation.