It’s Prom Time

It is that time of year when students’ thoughts turn not to books but to gowns. But for some it is a trying battle to bring their date. You would think that school officials would have learned by now that you cannot discriminate, maybe they think that the justice systems wheels turn slowly and the prom will be over before the courts rule.

Anais Celini Allegedly Blocked From Attending Prom With Boyfriend Nathaniel Baez, Who Is Transgender
The Huffington Post
By Curtis M. Wong
Posted: 04/14/2014

A teen couple at a New York high school is crying foul after allegedly being blocked from attending the prom together because one of them is transgender.

Anais Celini, who is a senior at the Martin Luther High School in Maspeth, Queens, told Pix 11 that she was told by school officials told her that boyfriend Nathaniel Baez's "transition was unconventional" and "not beneficial."

Baez added, "It's hard because I really wanted her to be able to go to prom with her friends, and me as well, because it is one of the stepping stones in high school."

School officials have thus far declined comment, according to Pix 11, but Baez has said that he will plan a private prom celebration for his girlfriend if authorities do not budge by May 22, when the dance will be held.

So the school only wants “conventional” students to attend, the school is a Lutheran high school but if the school is open to the public or receive public funding then they cannot discriminate.

In Buzzfeed article she said,

“I don’t plan on asking them again,” Celini, 18, told BuzzFeed. “I’m not going to fight them, that wasn’t the point. It’s a big night for everybody and I don’t want to cause a scene.”

Baez, 19, is saving money to put on their own small celebration, and Celini said that a transitional housing center has already come forward and offered to host a special prom for the couple. “It’s a really big deal, because he needs that money and he’s trying to put that together for me,” Celini said. “Nathaniel is helping.”

It was very nice of her not to press the issue and it was nice that the housing center offered to have a prom there. Here in Connecticut the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective where I volunteer has an annual Rainbow Prom. For many LGBT youth they are afraid to go to the prom with someone they love for fear of harassment, so the Glitter & Glamour Queer Prom is a safe space for them.

When I graduated from grad school we had a dance “A Night To Remember” and it was a night to remember form me. It was a night that I had dreamed about, going to a prom as myself. It wasn’t really a prom but in my mind it was the prom that I never had. The next morning I was so sore from all the dancing. It was a very emotional night, as I waked back to my car tears were flowing, because it would be the last time that I saw many of my classmates. Many of them would not be going to the graduation ceremonies up on the main campus in Storrs the following weekend and I wasn’t the only one crying on the walk to the parking lot, one of my classmates was also crying. We laughed and hugged through out tears.