Reading, Writing, Homophobia: Are Schools Teaching Intolerance?
Seven years ago, as Mark Hall of Oshawa, Ont., stepped into the limosine that would take him and his boyfriend to the high-school prom, he told onlookers, “I feel at ease just knowing that we’re getting free of discrimination.” Hall had been granted–and won–a request for an injunction against the Durham Catholic District School Board, which had tried to ban him from attending the prom because his “homosexual lifestyle” was a “bad example.” He was confident; the future looked bright. But history repeats itself, and Constance McMillen is fighting the same battle, this time in northern Mississippi. When her school learned that she planned to wear a tuxedo to her senior prom and bring her girlfriend as her date, administrators took extreme measures: Now there is no prom to speak of, and classmates are targeting McMillen as cause of the cancellation. Her peers are telling her she’s ruined their senior year. Mean—but who could expect anything different? They’re teenagers. Their senior prom
