Mississippi A.C.L.U. Rejects $20,000 for Alternate Prom

Mississippi A.C.L.U. Rejects $20,000 for Alternate Prom
By STEPHANIE STROM
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: March 31, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01prom.html?hpw


To avoid further controversy, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi has rejected a $20,000 gift intended to underwrite an alternate prom replacing one canceled by a local school district after a lesbian student demanded that she be allowed to attend with her girlfriend.

The gift, to sponsor one of several privately sponsored alternate events, came from the American Humanist Association, an advocacy group whose mission is to promote “good without God.”

“Although we support and understand organizations like yours, the majority of Mississippians tremble in terror at the word ‘atheist,’ ” Jennifer Carr, the fund-raiser for the A.C.L.U of Mississippi, wrote in an e-mail message to Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the humanist group.

According to Matthew Sheffield, a spokesman for the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition, the organization arranging the event, the A.C.L.U. of Mississippi did not have authority to decline the gift.

“We asked someone at the A.C.L.U. to assist us in handling all the donations, and that person told them we were not interested and that is not true,” he said.

Mr. Sheffield said that after getting answers to a few questions, their board would decide whether to accept the gift.

The alternate prom is scheduled for May 8.

Regarding the A.C.L.U. move, Ms. Carr wrote to Mr. Speckhardt: “Our staff has been talking a lot about your donation offer and have found ourselves in a bit of a conflict. We have fears that your organization sponsoring the prom could stir up even more controversy.”

After a Mississippi school board told Constance McMillen, the student, that she could neither bring her girlfriend to the dance nor appear in a tuxedo, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Itawamba County school district on Ms. McMillen’s behalf. A federal judge ruled that her rights had been violated but did not require that the event be reinstated.

Mr. Speckhardt said he was “really shocked” to hear the gift had been rejected. “We’ve worked with the A.C.L.U. many times in the past,” he said, “so this really felt like a slap in the face to me.”

He said the Humanist Association had worked with the Alliance of Baptists and other religious organizations before and thus could not understand why Ms. Carr thought what she described as “these Southern Baptist types” would be offended by its gift.

Todd Stiefel, a member of the Humanist Association who donated the money with his wife, Diana, said he was “extremely disappointed in the A.C.L.U.”

“You’d think they would have learned a lesson from the very case they’ve been working on,” he said. “The school board was trying to avoid a controversy by silencing a controversial minority, and now the A.C.L.U. is making the same mistake.”

Kristy Bennett, the legal director of the A.C.L.U. of Mississippi, said in a telephone interview that the Humanist Association had attached conditions to its gift that the organizers of the event would have trouble meeting, among other issues.

“Constance has had a lot of controversy around her over this, and in looking at the best interest of our client, I don’t know any more controversy would have benefited her,” Ms. Bennett said.

Ms. McMillen could not be reached for comment.

The Humanist Association said it had placed virtually no conditions on the gift.