CRANSTON, R.I.—School officials in the Rhode Island city of Cranston have ended their traditional father-daughter dances and mother-son ballgames, saying the activities are a violation of state gender discrimination law.
School Superintendent Judith Lundsten tells the Providence Journal the move came in response to a complaint from a single mother, who brought her case to the American Civil Liberties Union after her daughter wasn’t allowed to attend a father-daughter dance.
Rhode Island schools ban father-daughter dances, says dances violate law - thestar.com
In response to a letter from the ACLU, the school district has apparently decided that father-daughter dances and mother-son ballgames violate Rhode Island's gender discrimination laws. Attorneys for the school district say that whereas federal law provides an exemption for these sorts of events, state law does not. The issue was brought to light when a Republican nominee for state senate said he would work toward making that change.
The ACLU, however, claims that it has nothing to do with state vs. federal law. They argue instead that father-daughter dances foster "blatant stereotypes" that should not be tolerated in this day and age:
"Arranging for a dance for girls to go to and a ballgame for boys to go is a tradition that may have worked in the 1950s but it doesn't necessarily play out the same in 2012,"
Thus, they don't care so much about the Rhode Island girl who wanted to attend her father-daughter dance without her father - they're more concerned that a school district would go so far as to foster "outdated notions" by arranging a formal dance activity for girls and a baseball game for boys. Of course, they'd be equally unhappy about a father-daughter baseball game or a mother-son dance.
They didn't comment about what we're supposed to do about the kids who are equally averse to dances and ballgames. Perhaps they want to focus on destroying things one at a time.