Gay West Virginia High School Athletes Attend Senior Prom as Couple

While there is much yet to be accomplished in the realm of gay rights and gay acceptance, things have traveled light years from when I was in high school. For one thing, when I was in high school, being gay was literally still classified as a mental illness. That did not change until three years after I graduated and was in my third year of college. Similarly, no gay would have dreamed of going to the prom with a same sex date.  Instead, I and so many others played the game of trying to be what family and society expected.  Yes, there were those I would have loved to have gone to the prom with (all boys and none of whom ever knew my feelings), but instead I  asked girls to the prom both years that I went to the prom and conformed to expectations.  I tried desperately to conformed to expectations for another 32 years.  Thus, I find it so amazing to read the happy story of two high school gays (pictured above) who got to do what I never did - go to the prom as a couple in love.  Here are highlights from Out Sports:

It's prom season at high schools across the country, a special time that until recently has been reserved for straight student couples. A sign of growing acceptance and change took place in West Virginia on Saturday night.

The Mussleman High School senior prom was held at The Heritage Hall in Inwood, West Virginia. Among the couples attending were Michael Martin, a Mussleman senior, and his boyfriend Logan Westrope, who attends Hedgesville High School.

Michael was a four-year starter on his school's soccer team, making all-state as a goalie. He is also an all conference swimmer and tennis player. He told his coming out story on Outsports in December, in what was our most-viewed story of 2014. Michael will attend Wilson College in Pennsylvania this fall, major in Environmental Sustainability and play soccer. Logan plays tennis for Hedgesville High School. He will attend Penn State University and major in meteorology. The two have been dating for four months.

"We knew this would be a night to remember," Logan told Outsports. "We walked in, checked in with our tickets, and were off to have fun!  At first we were both a little hesitant to hold hands, not knowing how the rest of the student body would react. But after a short while, we were always next to each other and danced together the whole night.

"Some of the slow songs we danced to were 'Stay With Me' (Sam Smith), 'See You Again' (Wiz Khalifa), and 'All of Me' (John Legend). At the moment when the slow songs played, we would just stare into each other's eyes and would think of how lucky we are to have each other.

"We didn't hear any negative comments about Michael and I. A lot of people would come up to us (especially the girls) and say, 'You both are so cute!' or 'You guys look great!'  Once we left the prom, I remember Michael saying to me in the car, 'Logan, this is our last prom and I'm so glad I got to spend it with you.' I couldn't have asked for a more perfect night."

Congratulations to Michael and Logan.  I am very happy for them.  Meanwhile, a part of me is sad that I missed so much in my life.  I hope and pray that what Michael and Logan experienced will soon be the new normal in this country.

Gay Best Friends Crowned Prom King and Queen

All too often I and other bloggers look at wrongs in the world, especially wrongs done to GLBT individuals. But sometimes - often to our surprise - some things get done right. A case in point is the crowning of two gay boys as prom king and queen at a high school in Hudson, New York located roughly half way between New York City and Albany. Like much of upstate New York (through high school I lived in the Syracuse area), Hudson is light years from the world of New York City. Yet the students at Hudson High School got it right and voted for the boys by a near landslide. Would that the older generation could look beyond stereotypes and religious based bigotry. Congratulations to Charlie Ferrusi and Timmy Howard - and their peers who had the ability to see them as fully human and worthy of equal treatment. Here are some highlights from Hudson Register-Star:
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The Hudson High School prom made history this past Saturday when openly gay best friends were named prom king and queen. Seniors Charlie Ferrusi and Timmy Howard won their respective crown and tiara by a landslide Saturday and said the support they received from their peers and school administration has been fun and humbling.
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“It’s a really big step for Hudson but also for the gay community in general,” Howard said Wednesday. “To have this happen in our city is pretty exciting.”
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By prom night the overwhelming majority of students cast their votes in the open ballot race. They won by such a wide margin the school didn’t crown any runners up.
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In 2008 Augie Abatecola ran and won the race for Hudson prom queen but he was denied the crown by school officials. This time around Ferrusi and Howard decided to run their plan by advisors and Principal Steven Spicer beforehand. The school officials said they wouldn’t interfere with the student body’s vote and gave the boys their blessing.
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Incidences of young men winning prom king or queen do occur but two gay friends taking both crowns without incident is rare. Ferrusi and Howard’s crowning was appropriately timed, as Hudson will hold its first ever gay pride parade on Sunday, June 20. They said they plan on riding down Warren Street in the back of a truck with their crowns and homemade sashes.
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The Hudson Pride celebration will include a talk by Ed Beatty who was a part of the Stonewall riot in 1969 where gays at the Stonewall bar in New York City clashed with police trying to disperse their gathering.
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That riot was one of the major events that led to the abolition of a law banning gays to congregate. Star said recognizing those events and Ferrusi and Howard’s achievement in the same event is really significant. “It’s a brave new word,” Star said. “It’s a brave new Hudson.”
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Not surprisingly, some of the comments on the news story were not pretty, proving that there are still many Neanderthals out there. Fortunately, they are dying off just like the Neanderthals in prehistory.

High School Student Suspended for Attending Prom

I have stated before - starting with one of the very first posts on this blog - that I believe that raising children in an insane Christian fundamentalist atmosphere sometimes borders on a form of child abuse. A case in point is the suspension of a "Christian" academy high student who went to his girlfriend's prom at a public high school. You see, the prom involved - oh the horror - dancing, rock music and holding hands. It would be one thing if Tyler Frost, 17, had misbehaved on the grounds of the whacked out Heritage Christian School whose principal made the following statement:

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"at a prom there will be many young ladies who will be dressed in the current styles which would be low cut dresses and things like that and there will be dancing. How does a young man protect his mind and not have wrong thoughts or lustful thoughts in a situation like that," said Heritage Christian School Principal Tim England.

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With this kind of irrational obsession about all things sexual - much like that of the Roman Catholic Church - it's no surprise that one sees fundamentalist pastors and Catholic priests sexually abusing children as a result of such an utterly warped view. Somehow I suspect that women do not rate very high at Heritage Christian either. Likewise, Mr. England I suspect has some serious psychological issues of his own based on his nut job statement. Here are more highlights from the Findlay Courier which suggests the insanity at Heritage Christian is going to be spotlighted all over the nation and world as religion gone insane:

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Frost said he never wavered on attending the dance with his Findlay High School girlfriend, even though doing so violated Heritage Christian rules that forbid dancing, hand holding and rock music. Frost is suspended from the 84-student school at 2000 Broad Ave. beginning today, according to a letter sent to Frost's mother from Tim England, principal at Heritage. Frost has attended the school since kindergarten.

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Frost will receive an "incomplete" on remaining assignments and will be banned from graduation ceremonies, according to England. He will receive his diploma after completing his final exams, England said.Frost's father, Stephan Johnson, said he plans to file a lawsuit against Heritage Christian because the suspension is unfair and unwarranted, he said.

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Johnson and Frost are flying to New York City tonight to appear on CBS' The Early Show Tuesday morning, Johnson said. They were also asked to appear on Inside Edition and ABC's Primetime, Johnson said.Meanwhile, KISS FM 92.5 from Toledo will be broadcasting its morning show live from near Heritage Christian today starting at 6 a.m. Frost and Johnson will likely make an appearance at the broadcast, Johnson said.

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In a statement on the school's Web site, England quoted Bible verses to defend the school's decision."Should a Christian place themselves at an event where young ladies will have low cut dresses and be dancing in them? Isn't it contrary to the example of Joseph and the (Bible) verses I have stated?" England wrote.

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The irrational insanity of institutions like Heritage Christian School needs to be showcased so that more people better understand just how mentally unhinged Christianists can be and that they do NOT represent normalcy or the mainstream of society. They pose a threat to freedom of religion for others when they become involved in the political process and seek to fuse religious belief with the civil laws. H/T Bob Felton for the story.