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October 14, 2004
Teen: Dance decision 'gay discrimination'
Principal: Sexual preference was not the issue
By VANESSA McCRAY
Record-Eagle staff writer

BENZONIA - Marie Hood invited her date to Benzie Central High School's homecoming dance and signed the guest's name to a list - just as other students are required to do when inviting someone from another school.

But Marie's guest was another girl. Marie, a bisexual, ended up going to the dance alone.

Her principal, she said, told her, "Girls aren't allowed to invite girls, and guys aren't allowed to invite guys."

"I asked him why, and he said he was trying to limit people from other schools," said Marie, 17, who this week organized a sit-in protest at the school.

"He said he wanted to keep the dance 'conventional.' I consider that gay discrimination."

Principal Pete Olson said he "could have" used the word "conventional" when explaining the school's dance policy but said he wasn't referring to straight or gay couples attending the dance.

"That is not what I was looking at, conventional in that sense, but number-wise," he said. "The dances are packed."

Olson said he was worried about safety at a crowded dance with 400 people in the school cafeteria.

"There were too many outside kids that I don't know anything about, so (I said) you can't just bring another person, it has to be a date ... ," he said. "I didn't want to go questioning them about their sexual preference."

Tuesday, Marie said she and seven other students staged a three-hour sit-in in Olson's office to protest what they contend was a discriminatory decision. Marie said she wanted an audience with the principal and a chance to make "a point."

"The rules should be that you should be able to invite one person; there is no problem regulating one person, but to discriminate against a girl because she wants to bring another girl?" said Angie Bensinger, a Benzie student and Marie's friend.

The sit-in ended after Olson returned from a meeting and met with Marie to talk about the dance policy. Olson changed the rules to permit only students from Benzie to attend Benzie dances, except at prom, when juniors and seniors will be allowed to bring a guest from another school.

"Boys will be able to take boys, and girls will be able to take girls," Olson said.

He said the change is due to his concerns about overcrowding and safety at the dances.

"We are going to change it; we need to be aware of those kinds of considerations that need to be given," he said. " ... It never even crossed my mind that we were leaving a particular group, a sexual preference, out."

But Marie said it isn't fair that students who are "out" with their sexual preference were left out of the homecoming dance. The protesting students said they wanted the school to be aware of the issue and were well-received by most of the student body.

"I just went for it, I didn't think twice," said Stephanie Rhodes, a student who participated in the sit-in. "We had people walk in saying, 'Rock on, you are awesome.' We haven't had anyone make bad comments about it."

Steve Morse, president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northwestern Michigan, said there's a legal precedent that says a student who invites a same-sex guest to a school event is exercising his right to a protected form of "political" speech.

"There is no constitutional right to a homosexual life, no constitutional right to go to the prom, it has to get over into the point where it is protected by the First Amendment," he said.

More schools are "encouraging" or "at least allowing" gay and lesbian students to bring their boyfriend or girlfriend to a school dance, said Jeffrey Montgomery of the Triangle Foundation, a Detroit-based gay rights advocacy organization.

"Homecoming and the prom are two of the most significant bookends of a school year in terms of their social life," he said. " ... You can't make a policy that is going to negatively affect the gay and lesbian population and justify it by some convenience; in (this) case it was the dance overcrowding."

Marie, who said she has been active in political marches and such events before, says her next goal is to organize a gay rights club at Benzie.

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