Heroes and Villains and Fake Proms

 Let's talk about bullies. They seem to be winning these days. And they seem to be getting support from the people that are supposed to stand up for their victims. Phoebe Prince killed herself rather than face another humiliation at the hands of her tormentors. You'd think that the school board would be looking inward, trying to figure out what they could have done to help Phoebe, to understand that when it comes to bullies, silence means approval. You'd think they'd admit that they'd bear some responsibility, because they were charged with the most sacred duty imaginable - the care and protection of kids.

You'd be wrong.

In Constance McMillen's case, the bullies are classmates AND the school administration. Constance, of course, is the girl whose school decided to cancel their prom because she might go and she's a lesbian and what would Jesus and Jefferson Davis think of a gay person attending a prom? (An aside: I really do hate making generalizations of the South - I have friends and family in Dixie, and South Carolina is one of the loveliest places I've been to, thanks in no small part to the people there. But really, The South, you are running out of excuses.) Well, the school cancelled the "real prom". Sorta. Actually, they did have a school-sponsored prom, and Constance was invited. It was chaperoned by the principal and a couple of teachers. Not that their presence was needed. Because Constance was one of only seven students that were invited. The rest of the students? They were whooping it up at a "secret prom" organized by the parents, with the full knowledge of the school board. Their cover-up attempt was something right out of Gomer Pyle's playbook. Psst! Homophobic teens! Wanna keep your Straight Prom secret? Don't post pictures of it on Facebook! (Google "Itawamba prom Facebook pictures" if you want to see them, because I'm pretty sure I'd get in trouble posting pictures of drunk 16 year-olds on my website.) The kicker: the two special needs students who were also not invited to the secret prom - apparently the good people of Shitkicker, Mississippi think that "people can catch them learnin' disabilities like they can catch The Gay". 

There are villains in this world, and some of them are teaching our children. They turn a blind eye to cruelty; worse, they shrug and say it's not their job to intervene. They wrap themselves in American flags and quote the Bible and claim to hold the moral high ground, while destroying the lives of those who are "different". It must stop. 

But lest we forget, there are also heroes. Constance's quote about those two special needs kids speaks volumes. "They had the time of their lives. That's the one good thing to come out of this...(those kids) didn't have to worry about people making fun of them."  Now that's a girl I'd be proud to call my daughter.