Should Father-Daughter Dances Be Banned?
Some schools in the Northeast have prohibited these events after school lawyers said they violate gender discrimination laws. Do you agree with the ban?
Father-daughter dances are a tradition at many schools and community centers in towns across the country.
In Montclair, for example, Arthur Murray Dance Center offers dance instruction for fathers and daughters in preparation for father-daughter dances that take place at the Montclair Golf Club and elsewhere each year.
But down in Cranston, R.I., school officials there say they have banned father-daughter dances after a complaint from one mother, according to various reports on Cranston Patch.
The move came after Cranston School Superintendent Judith Lundsten received a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a mother complaining that she had not be allowed to attend a father-daughter dance with her daughter.
Apparently, the federal Title IX legislation that bans gender discrimination actually has an exemption for activities such as father-daughter dances. But Rhode Island law does not honor that exemption, Cranston Patch reports the superintendent as saying.
Does the ACLU have a point? Should father-daughter dances be banned? Or opened up, instead, to parent-child dances? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Mitch Greenberg
9:55 am on Thursday, September 27, 2012
Of course the MOTHER was not allowed to participate in the FATHER-DAUGHTER dance, as she doesn't fall into either category. Just as she wouldn't qualify for the Student vs. Faculty games or the Junior Prom. It strikes me as the height of PC-mania that because one person is inconvenienced -- or feels left out -- an entire system, establishment or tradition must fall by the wayside or change drastically. It's time for people to stop whining and complaining that their individual "rights" are being ignored or violated, when what they really mean is they're being denied certain privileges, based on long-established and perfectly legal practice which 99.5% of the public finds acceptable. One disgruntled citizen should never have the ability to hold an entire community hostage to their own preferences, dislikes or emotional immaturity. Let's all grow up and get on with our lives!
Concerned citizen
9:55 am on Thursday, September 27, 2012
yes...not every daughter has a father who can accompany them.
Private
11:28 am on Thursday, September 27, 2012
And not all Father's have daughters....I don't remember a Mother - son dance...It is a great reason to keep special times and foster polite social behavior at a young age....let's make it a Parent - child dance.
Trevor Reznik
12:34 pm on Thursday, September 27, 2012
Thats an excellent point. Interesting that fathers with only sons don't seem to have an issue with this. These types of ridiculous affronts make me sick. kind of like insisting that girls get to play on boys little league teams. Last I checked, baseball was a boys sport from High School on. There's fairness, then there's stupidity.
Margaret Walsh
10:31 am on Friday, September 28, 2012
For Daughters that have Fathers this is a good event. Other events could be planned for Mothers or parents. Why change what already is in place.