We Are the Youth is a photographic journalism project chronicling the individual stories of LGBT youth in the United States. This is the story of Audri, a fifteen-year-old from Mississippi who identifies as a butch lesbian.
Nettleton Middle School, which distributed materials stipulating specific races' eligibility for middle school elections, is ending the policy, saying it was a rotation implemented 30 years ago to ensure diversity.
Some interesting facts about Mississippi's Nettleton Middle School, which only allows white students to run for class president: their segregated homecoming is mandated in their handbook. And they have a black female principal.
If we still have segregated proms in the American South, including in Mississippi, why not segregated middle school elections? Welcome to Nettleton Middle School, where not only are class elections segregated, but the president slots are designated for white students.
Constance McMillen accepted a settlement from her school for barring her from the prom, and a promise that the school will end discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It's a victory not just for gay teens, but teens everywhere.
[Jackson, Mississippi; June 9. Image via AP]
I'd like to think so too. But regardless, this is a great read, including the very vibrant comment section, from whence the quote above comes. [Ta-Nehisi Coates/The Atlantic]
[Jackson, Mississippi; May 6. Image via AP]
[Gulfport, Mississippi; May 1. Image via AP]
After being banned from bringing her girlfriend to prom, and later seeing the event canceled over her inclusion, Constance McMillen will finally get to celebrate. She has been named the grand marshal of June's gay pride parade in NYC. [CityRoom]
All the news had been good for Constance McMillen, who was supposed to bring her girlfriend to her school's privately sponsored prom on Friday. Except that prom was a decoy.
Ceara, an openly gay female student in Wesson, Mississippi, wore a tux in her yearbook photo; school officials are refusing to include the pic. "I'm paying for the yearbook. Why can't it be in there?" Ceara rightly asks. [WLOX]
