- Do I support you being queer as (bleep) at prom?
Yeah, but does the Constitution support you
being queer as (bleep) at prom?
Heck yeah.
(upbeat music)
Prom season is upon us,
and that can mean fancy clothes, fly hairstyles,
and your parents taking a lot of photos.
Mom, stop.
But for some LGBTQ plus high schoolers,
prom can be a stressful time with a lot of questions,
so I invited my friend Dylan Marron to ask him
a big question of my own.
- What is it?
- Will you make a video with me about being queer at prom?
- Oh my god, I thought you'd never ask.
(upbeat music)
Franchesca's right, LGBTQ plus folks have more
than just rented tuxes and fly hairstyles to worry about,
and it makes sense because high school can be a tough time
for those of us who aren't straight or cis.
Side note, cis is short for cisgender,
meaning people who identify as the gender
they were assigned at birth.
So, as our straight and cis classmates get a head start
on dating and intimacy,
and awkwardly making out in movie theaters,
we might be retreating into ourselves
wondering if we'll ever get a chance to try that out too.
And prom is like the Super Bowl of high school,
so it makes sense if some of us might wanna sit
that one out.
- Are you proud of yourself for making a sports metaphor?
- Very.
- And I'm sure reading the news doesn't help.
Just last year, Raymond Tullier and Nicholas Newport
were banned from attending their prom
just for wanting to go together.
Ash Whitaker, a trans guy from Wisconsin,
wanted to run for prom king,
but his school said he had to run for prom queen
because he's a-fab, or assigned female at birth.
And in 2010, Constance McMillen was told she shouldn't bring
her girlfriend to prom, or even wear a tux.
Now, that's not a prom I would wanna go to.
But hey, if your idea of prom is a discrimination ball,
you do you.
- But if you're watching this video and you can't wait
to your beautiful queer self at prom,
then we have some good news for you.
- Being out and proud at prom is your constitutional right.
Seriously, and for that you can thank a Rhode Island
teenager in the '80s, a gay student organization
in the 70s, and a group of high school students
protesting the Vietnam War in the '60s.
- To understand how all of those fit together,
let's go back to 1980, when one guy wouldn't take no
for an answer and changed the course of history.
- His name was Aaron Frick, and in 1980 he wanted to bring
a dude to prom.
Now, that might not seem so revolutionary now,
but in 1980, that was a big deal.
It was so much of a big deal that his principal said no
because he was afraid Aaron and his date would be bullied.
- But Aaron, like a total boss,
basically said that's okay,
I'll just sue your for infringing on
my first amendment rights.
- Yup, the same amendment that protects all the lovely
folks who comment on internet videos also protects
queer folks who just wanna go to prom.
The first amendment.
- There's something for everyone.
When people claim that SGWs are infringing
on their free speech in the high court of a common thread,
that's one thing.
But when someone says their free speech is under attack
in a court of law, a lot of things need to be considered.
In Aaron's case, there were three big questions.
First, does dance count as speech?
- It actually does.
Six years earlier, the University of New Hampshire
wouldn't allow the campus gay students organization
to throw a dance.
And a court declared that the organization's
first amendment rights were infringed because dance
is an expression that counts as something
called symbolic speech.
Meaning, the act of attending a dance with someone
is a form of expression that is just as protected
as the freedom to express your opinions with words.
- Franchesca, will you take a moment
to symbolic speech with me?
- Mhmm.
(slow dance music)
Should we get back to the video?
- Shh, it's symbolic.
- Awesome, so dancing counts as speech.
Second question, did Aaron pick the appropriate place
to exercise his freedom of speech?
- Yes, and I'll tell you why.
In 1969, a group of high schoolers in Des Moines, Iowa
protested the Vietnam War by wearing
black arm bands to school.
They were suspended, they sued,
and then the court was like, lol, no girl,
the first amendment right also applies in high school too.
- Was that a direct quote from the courts?
- Yeah, I think so.
- Well, we've come to our third and final question.
Wasn't the school just trying to protect Aaron
against homophobic bullying?
- Sort of, but if you think about it,
the principal was actually protecting the bullies.
Saying don't express yourself
because people might react badly
is kind of like me telling you not to make videos
because you might get trolled.
- Sorry, that's not happening.
The judge ruled in favor of Aaron Frick,
he got to go to prom with his boo,
and his insistence changed the way LGBTQ plus folks
could attend prom which is a pretty awesome thing
to do at 18.
- Oh, and remember those people we told you about before?
Well, thanks in part to Aaron Frick
and the first amendment,
Raymond Tullier and Nicholas Newport got to attend
prom together after all.
Ash Whitaker was able to honor his true gender
by running for prom king.
And Constance McMillen won a lawsuit against
her school district, and a few months later she served
as the Grand Marshall of the New York Pride Parade.
Oh, and the whole her not being allowed to wear a tux thing,
yeah, that's an infringement on Title Nine
and the Equal Protection Clause that blocks school officials
from forcing students to conform to sex stereotypes.
Thanks law.
- And if all this constitutional proof isn't enough
to encourage you to be your wonderful queer self at prom
consider this, prom is a cotillion style social event
and since cotillions are often referred to
as coming out balls, why not honor the literal history
of prom and come out as you?
- Hey, and if you're not ready to come out,
that's totally cool too.
That's something you need to do on your own time
and in your own way.
We'll be here cheering for you whenever you're ready.
- Thanks so much to our guest, Dylan Marron.
Thanks for watching, we'll see you next time
right here on Decoded.
- Best prom ever.