After winning the right to take his boyfriend to the prom, and then getting kicked out of his own house, Georgia high school senior Derrick Martin is facing his own classmates protesting his right to bring somebody to dance with. Or really, it’s not that his peers have a problem with him being gay, just that he’s made such a big fuss about it. This, from a demographic that Facebook gossip to be life-or-death.
Says lead obnoxious person Amber Duskin (pictured), who organized a rally outside the courthouse: “I don’t believe in going up there and dancing with gay guys like that. It’s also not just him bringing a boy. It was bringing all this attention to it.” In the meantime: She wants her prom ticket refunded.
Jon
I hope she gets a refund. . .poor thing.
Blake
I think every moment she is in the hallway inbetween classes I would have a group of gay boys and girls follow her around and dance….. Refund that!
Michael
Get me her mailing address. I’ll personally refund her prom ticket. Side note: She’s probably one of those girls who, once in college, will only get asked to dance by the ‘gay guys’ anyway. She should learn to appreciate…
Michael
This, from the Macon.com story on the protest, is horrifying:
“As a result of the media attention, Martin’s parents have kicked him out of their home, and he’s staying with a friend in Cochran.
Martin’s father is a math teacher at Bleckley County High and is the school’s Teacher of the Year.
“I think his dad is embarrassed,” said sophomore Brittany Bohannon. As school faculty were introduced at an unrelated motivational speaking event Thursday, Martin’s father attended but stood in the background, she said. “People thought it was OK I was going to prom but not OK with me telling anybody,” Derrick Martin said Thursday. “All this media attention has gotten people scared Cochran is an openly gay community.”
Read more: http://www.macon.com/2010/03/26/1073335/students-protest-bleckley-prom.html#ixzz0jJGN6WL6
Hyhybt
“Cochran” sounds like a reason to see the doctor.
ChrisM
What a bunch of dumb fucks in Cochran. Derrick needs to get out of there quick and go somewhere where people will appreciate him, not where the only standard is being straight.
dbzeag
“All this media attention has gotten people scared Cochran is an openly gay community.”
Um yeah, that’s the idea. All communities should be gay. All communities should be straight. All communities should welcome all persons to them.
Certainly being known as an open gay community hasn’t hurt ANY openly gay community yet. What’s the fault in it?
chris
Oh Amber honey don’t tell me that you are really proud of what you have done and what we have read about YOU in the press in regards to the Derrick story. Are you parents proud ? If so both you and they are a bunch of hopeless, hateful little bigots.
Derrick is a smart brave kid going to college on a full scholarship. He will vault so far past your little community in Georgia and I hope he never looks back….past all the Amber’s slinging burgers at the local burger shop or working at the Baptist Church as a secretary, the close minded, those lacking in any true Christian values.
Mob Mentality
“People who don’t know the area will think it reflects on everybody,” said John Smith, a grandfather who owns an air-conditioning business in Cochran.
LOL. God forbid anyone think a town is not bigoted. Jeez. Do people get the irony of their attitudes?
terrwill
Amber is a vile little crunt who will be sitting in her mobile home on cinder blocks in Cockring for the next 45 years growing fatter by the year. Her definition of success will be when she can afford a double wide trailer to accomodate her double wide cottage cheese filled vericose vein filled ass. While Derrick will graduate from college which he has a scholarship for, have a successfull and productive life………
And how low must the standards be at Bleckley County High?
That subhuman piece of shit scumbag that can look his own son in the eyes and cast him out of the family home??
I truly believe in karma. And I am certain that Satan has a special corner of hell reserved for scum like those who cast their children out of the family home in order to adhere to some vile hate filled dogma spewed by their religion or political philosophy…….
B
No. 10 · terrwill wrote, “Amber is a vile little crunt who will be sitting in her mobile home on cinder blocks…”
Guys, show a little perspective. Amber is a high school student with the limited maturity that implies. She’s way too young to be subjected to a national vilification campaign. If she still holds the same opinions when she is 25, vilify her then. Otherwise, give her a chance to grow up and discover the real world. If she goes to college and is exposed to a more diverse group of people, her opinions may change substantially.
The reaction towards an immature youngster reminds me of what a French conservative politician said when people started dumping on him because his son was a communist: “Gentlemen, my son is 21 years old. If he were not a communist, I would disown him. If he is still a communist when he is 30, I will disown him then.”
As to Derrick’s parents, call them anything you like – kicking a high school student out of the house for something nobody should care about is truly disgusting.
Anne
Cry more, Amber. I’d have liked to hear her defend her stupid decision to Derrick.
terrwill
@B: First I wish to give you kudos, more than not when someone disagrees with a threadster they fire a volly of personal insults. Thank you for not “B”ing an asshat….. : p
That being said, I still gotta stick to my opinion of that little crunt. Hers was a calculated move to gain some attention. She saw how much of a huge story the Derrick Drama was garning and she wanted to write herself a part in it. I tend not to take the “soft” approach in my missives towards those who hate on the Gays. If this was an elementary school situation, I would probably agree with you and give her a pass. She entered this ring on her own, she now needs to accept the punches that are thrown her way………………….
edgyguy1426
Yeah B don’t volley those personal insults, that’s Terrwill’s job.
terrwill
See what I mean????
chris
Oh I see, so when teenagers do something good like organise massive protests against WBC they’re heroes and very intelligent. But when they do something like this it ‘demonstrates the little maturity’ that we have?
Make up your fucking mind coz it’s just a little insulting to those teenagers who are politically active and intelligent.
Michael
America is such a great country, where all men are created equal unless you happen to be a homosexual then, of course, it’s probably the most vile and evil “civilized” country in the world.
B
No. 13 · terrwill wrote, “That being said, I still gotta stick to my opinion of that little crunt. Hers was a calculated move to gain some attention.” … you are speculating about her motives, without considering the possibility that she just might have led a very sheltered existence with her parents and community more or less brainwashing her. That’s why I think you should give her time. Her opinions could very well change.
Regarding Chris’ comment in No. 16, “Oh I see, so when teenagers do something good like organise massive protests against WBC they’re heroes and very intelligent. But when they do something like this it ‘demonstrates the little maturity’ that we have?”
… kids mature at different rates, and adults do not all hold the same opinions. I find Chris’ comment rather odd given that I never called teenagers protesting the WBC “heros and very intelligent.” In fact, I don’t think it takes very much intelligence, much less heroism, to see that the WBC people are a bunch of mindless loons – its obvious to almost anyone, all protesting them requires is getting up early enough in the morning to be there when they are, and you aren’t going to be castigated by your community for protesting them given that practically everyone wants the WBC to go somewhere else, preferably to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Cerene
“It’s also not just him bringing a boy. It was bringing all this attention to it.”
Exactly! Whenever I feel like I am getting too much attention, I hold a public demonstration to protest all the attention! That girl has a head on her shoulders.
terrwill
The more the Derrick Drama unfolds the more his town is revealed to be simply a cesspool inhabited by mostly scumbags. Derrick did the absolute right thing from the very beginning. He notified the school officials that he wished to bring his boyfriend to the prom months before the event. He didn’t attempt to create a firestorm two weeks prior to the event. The board then dithered for three months prior to granting approval. They wern’t checking out matching tuxes for Derrick and Rich. They were looking into every nook and cranny of the legal code to find an excuse to prevent them from attending. Once they exhausted all avenues to not grant permission they gave their tepid approval. The statement included the words that this was in no way an endorsement of any lifestyle. This whole drama has a cast of such reprehensive charachters it gets more sickening each day……..
Steve
Derrick’s father was more worried about the opinions of his neighbors than he was about his own son. I wouldn’t blame Derrick for going away to college and never going back. If the father is lucky, Derrick might speak to him again before he dies. The father chose to destroy his own family. He will have to live with the consequences.
Jaroslaw
B – yes I agree that all adults do not hold the same opinions and children/teenagers mature at different rates.
But everyone knows what it is to be mean and/or hateful and/or selfish and just not care. Perhaps when people like Terrwill call her on it, she will become mature because she will HAVE to defend her position. At some point, listening to other points of view, hopefully, she will evaluate it and see she is just being small minded.
This doesn’t mean of course, that she has to love Gays, but hopefully she will also come to the realization we are already everywhere and she can look past this and just enjoy the prom.
hephaestion
What Amber said makes no sense AT ALL. That leads me to think she’s just mimicking some lame, stupid, off-hand comments she heard at home. Blaming him for “bringing so much attention to it” is like blaming the Jews for being a little upset over the Holocaust. His rights were being denied, Amber. You would have done the same thing if they’d tried to deny your right to go to prom with a boy.
B
No. 22 · Jaroslaw wrote, “Perhaps when people like Terrwill call her on it, she will become mature because she will HAVE to defend her position.” Given her age, I don’t think the national publicity is appropriate – many people that age can’t really think for themselves. She doesn’t need a hostile response because she is probably as much a victim of her environment as Derrick is, but in a different way. What she does need is more education – at a college in a different geographic location so that she’ll be exposed to more of the real world.
jeffree
I couldnt afford tickets/ tux/ dinner/ flowers to go to prom . But poor folks learn 2 improvise! My then bf & I went 2 a cheapo buffet 4 dinner & rented a motel room for 39$ plus tax (u have to be away from big city life 2 believe that exists) No cable tv, but free radio & breakfast! We turned up the music & danced anyways & bred like bunnys until 5 a.m. !
i dont regret that.
some people, remember please ,don’t go to the prom because they r gay or lesbian but because they cannot pay the ticket price.
Jaroslaw
#24 B, I hear you that she is a victim too and her age etc. – but….she chose to say something “mean” in a large public forum and she has to take what comes with it. Unless I’m missing something, she HAS to know saying something publicly means something. Better to learn it now where she at least has the support of the majority to fall back on. But she is not getting a free pass from me.
BTW now that I’m thinking further: just what part of EVERYBODY knows when they are being mean/selfish/hateful and just doesn’t care didn’t you get? what I mean, she is taking advantage that she is in majority opinion to pick on the odd man out, in this case the queer. She would do it to any other minority given the opportunity. Granted, adults do it also,and it is even less excusable from them; but even if she is undereducated, underexposed to the ways of the larger world, she is fully aware she is causing another person pain and she just doesn’t care. She is responsible for at least that much.
B
No. 26 · Jaroslaw wrote, “but….she chose to say something ‘mean’ in a large public forum and she has to take what comes with it.” … but actually it was a small public forum – she organized a rally outside the courthouse in her tiny little burg. What she needs is some personal guidance from responsible adults living there, maybe just telling her something like, “Did you think about how Derrick might feel, especially after his parents kicked him out of his home?”
50 years ago, when kids did something dumb or insensitive, the adults in town might shake their heads, but nobody read about it while living nearly 3000 miles away, so the response was generally on the same scale as the offense. The kids eventually grew up, and didn’t have to worry that a Google search would show future employers that “at the age of 12, XXX pulled YYY’s pigtails and made her cry.” In 5 years, if she goes to college and gets out of the backwater town she’s in, her opinions might be quite a bit different, and she shouldn’t be haunted for years because of some silly stunt she pulled while still a child.
Jaroslaw
B – I’m afraid you and I are just going to disagree. You keep answering as if she has no responsibility at all.
Another tidbit – she won’t be haunted forever. We now have an information overload. Not only that, my photo was posted on the net at a public event, I wanted to show it to someone and it is gone. I searched a hundred different ways. The ITT at work said there are laws and policies that are changing and I’m proof apparently they are working.
Carol White
Just wanted to update you on Derrick Martin. He graduated last night and has received numbers of scholarship awards for his academic acheivements. His dad presented his diploma to him and they hugged – it was sweet. I don’t like to read false postings, so let me be clear regarding his father. This is a fine man that is one awesome teacher. Derrick’s mother is the one that has a huge problem with his choices. It is his mother who has caused so much of the turmoil. Derrick will go on to be huge contributor to this country, as he is one intelligent young man.