BOONVILLE, N.C. (WGHP)—
A Triad high school is allowing a gay couple to attend senior prom after amending a policy so that any student can bring a guest, rather than a date, to prom.With matching rings, Chase Wall, a student at Starmount High School in Yadkin County, and his boyfriend, Jordan Beam, say their relationship is pretty serious. Like many teenagers, they say they had been looking forward to prom all year, but Wall said the principal recently called him to the office and told him he couldn't bring Beam as his date.
"It really disappointed me that I wasn't going to be able to go with him just because we're the same sex." Wall said.
"I'm not going to lie, I really went off whenever I found out about it." said Beam, who goes to another school.
Beam's mother, Lisa Nixon, didn't want her son or Wall to miss their prom. She brought her displeasure to Starmount High School principal Danyelle Parker.
"I told her when I spoke with her that if they did not allow him to bring a same-sex prom date that I would call the ACLU and I would contact the media, because this was wrong." Nixon said.
Parker left this message on Nixon's home answering machine:
"We are going to allow Chase to bring, I guess it's your son, as his outside date and what we are probably going to have to change about our policy is just to allow any student to bring a guest and not necessarily call it a date." Parker said.
School administrators didn't want to talk to FOX8 on camera, but they said they have a no-discrimination policy.
Some people in the small town of Boonville, where Starmount High School is located, didn't agree with administrators' decision.
"If they want to go to it, that's the school's business. I'm born and raised in the south, in the Bible Belt. It's not the Christian thing to be doing." said Mark Parker.
Wall and Beam know not everyone approves of their relationship, but they say they couldn't be happier together. The school's decision, they say, is a small, but meaningful victory.
"Even if this small thing got another person next year to be able to go, then that's a good thing for me. That makes me happy so I'm glad I get to say I started it." Wall said.
Nixon says she credits school administrators for their handling of the issue. In the meantime, Wall and Beam say they are looking forward to attending their senior prom on May 1.
