Without incident, this weekend openly gay teen Derrick Martin (right) and his date Richard Goodman attended Derrick's senior prom in Cochran, Georgia. About 7:45 p.m., couples started to arrive at the high school in a line of stretch limos, a bus, a John Deere tractor and even carriage and buggy, and afterward walked through a crowd of parents and friends who snapped photos. When Martin, 18, and his boyfriend Richard Goodman, also 18, stepped onto a makeshift “red carpet” and their names were announced, a few parents whispered but many in the crowd gave him a loud cheer. No one yelled out in protest. “I wonder if they realize what they’ve done,” said Arturro Beeche, a San Francisco professor who flew into Georgia on Friday and drove Martin and Goodman to the prom. “Once it happens in small-town America, it will inspire so many,” he said. Security was tight with at least 15 officers stationed at the high school, and no one could enter the parking lot without a ticket. Martin asked his school system for permission to take a same sex partner to prom earlier this school year.Derrick's story became a national counterpoint to the Constance McMillen controversy after his school agreed that they had no rule in place to prevent him from attending the prom with a same-sex date. Goodman has invited Derrick to his senior prom at another school.
Labels: education, Georgia, LGBT youth
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