CNN's Velshi: Homosexual Teens Need Legal Protection to Take Dates to Prom

July 25th, 2010 8:31 PM
Ali Velshi, CNN Anchor | NewsBusters.org

Ali Velshi continued CNN's endorsement of the homosexual agenda on Thursday's Newsroom with a commentary where he endorsed legislation that would "require school districts to have policies recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity." Velshi highlighted the case of a Mississippi teen lesbian who, with the ACLU's help, won $35,000 in damages against her school district, who had barred her from taking another young woman to the prom.

The CNN anchor gave a one-line preview of his regular "XYZ" segment 57 minutes into the 2 pm Eastern hour: "Okay- a prom is for everyone, no matter who your date is. I'm going to tell you more about it in my 'XYZ,' coming up." After a commercial break, Velshi launched into his commentary:

VELSHI: Time now for the 'XYZ' of it. An update to a story we brought you several months ago: a Mississippi school district will pay $35,000 in damages to a recent high school graduate barred from attending her school prom because she's a lesbian, and the Itawamba school district will adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

This ends the lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of Constance McMillen, the teen who was told that she and her girlfriend would be ejected if they attended the school-sponsored prom back in April. A month before that, a federal judge had ruled that the school district violated McMillen's First Amendment rights. The prom was eventually cancelled by the school board, who had previously said they reached their decision based on- quote, 'the education, safety and well-being of its students,' end quote.

Someday, someone will explain to me how a gay couple going to a program affects the 'education, safety and well-being of students.' But for now, consider this: only 12 states and the District of Columbia require school districts to have policies recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity. The ACLU says it has represented other students in similar cases involving issues of sexuality around the country, but none garnered as much attention as Contessa [sic] McMillen's legal battle. McMillen says she thinks the case resonated with so many people because the prom is a common theme and everyone knows how it feels to want to go to the prom.

Gay or not gay, there are certain rites of passage in a young person's life that they should be allowed to have, and I'm willing to bet, in a time when budgets for school books, teachers and salaries, and after-school programs are being stretched, the $35,000 could have gone a long way.
That's my 'XYZ.'

Despite noting that the "federal judge had ruled that the school district violated McMillen's First Amendment rights," Velshi omitted that the same judge refused to force the school district to reinstate the cancelled prom.

Velshi's left-leaning position certainly isn't unique at CNN. Brooke Baldwin, Velshi's colleague, conducted a sympathetic interview of McMillen exactly a month earlier on June 22, where she prompted the teenaged homosexual activist to give advice to "other teens who are suffering silence." Earlier that month, on June 15, CNN's Soledad O'Brien gave a one-sided report about another lesbian teenager in Mississippi, Ceara Sturgis, whose senior year portrait was left out of her school's yearbook because she chose to have it taken in a tux, defying the school's rules. O'Brien aired the report as part of CNN's lead-up for her propagandistic documentary promoting homosexual parenting, "Gary and Tony Have a Baby."