I was recently sent a clipping from the Fargo, North Dakota newspaper (The Forum) about a gay couple attending the Fargo South High School’s prom (that may be where my cousins go, actually…). Anyway, the couple - Jakob Paper and Steven Goering - got front page, headline coverage about the event, and while I applaud Fargo for being so open and accepting about this (at least in the media), I was kind of saddened by the whole story. It saddened me how posed the front page picture of the two holding hands was. It saddened me how the only gay couple open enough to go to prom together was exploited by the media, turning their senior prom into more of a public interest piece than a private one. It saddened me that this had to be front page news in the first place.

As a semi-active member of the independent media here in Charlottesville, I have mixed feelings about the entire issue. We see it in legal case after legal case: someone has to be exploited for progress to be made and change to happen. Why can’t we just let gay couples go to prom without making a big deal out of it? Within a decade or two, I honestly don’t think most [public] schools won’t have seen a gay couple at their prom. I also think this will happen whether or not we make such a big deal out of individual events such as this.

I will, however, applaud Jakob and Steven for taking this initiative in a mostly conservatives state. Plus, I really shouldn’t be criticizing The Forum for devoting half their front page to this story, when The Daily Progress just recently devoted and equal amount of headline space to a father and son jumping in a puddle…

InnerJoeJoe

I know of at least two couples going this year…
yay. It’l be bangin’.