Father-daughter dances, currently banned in Cranston, Rhode Island after the ACLU and a single mother threatened to sue under the state anti-discrimination law, are one step closer to reinstatement.
The Rhode Island Senate has approved language amending the law to allow single-sex events if comparable events are provided for the other sex, via ProJo:
The Senate on Thursday approved a bill aimed at removing potential legal barriers to gender-specific activities — such as father-daughter dances — in Rhode Island’s public schools.The vote was 33 to 3.The measure was prompted by an uproar in Cranston last year after the School Committee canceled a father-daughter dance in the face of a civil-rights challenge by the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.The bill now headed to the House would allow a school to “provide extracurricular activities for students of one sex, including… father-daughter/mother-son activities,” as long as “opportunities for reasonably comparable activities” are provided students of the other sex.”
The ACLU issued the following statement, per ProJo:
“We are very disappointed by the Senate’s vote today,” said ACLU executive director Steven Brown. “By allowing schools to segregate by sex any extra-curricular activity — whether it’s the chess club, debate team, or science club — the state is taking a giant leap backward in encouraging the reemergence of stereotypes about the abilities and interests of girls and boys.”
So expect schools to offer Mother-Son Dances (which I’m guessing will be sparsely attended).
The unanswered question is whether under the statute Cranston and other schools also need to have Father-Son and Mother-Daughter Dances.
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