A gay student at an all-boys Catholic prep school in Memphis, Tennessee, says school administrators are refusing to allow him to bring his date to the homecoming dance. Lance Sanderson, a senior at Christian Brothers High School, says he had hoped to take a boy from another school to Saturday’s event; however, his request was denied. Citing school policy, administrators told him that while students “may attend the dance by themselves, with other CBHS students or with a girl from another school,” boys from other schools may not attend “for logistical reasons.” As WMC-TV notes, the school said that this policy has always been in place. Sanderson insists he was not aware of such a rule, and was given a vastly different message last year when he approached a school official about his homecoming date. “[The official] said the school doesn't discriminate, and I could bring whoever I want,” the 18-year-old told Mic.com. That particular official left over the summer, and since then, Sanderson says he’s met with “harsh opposition” from the school. The student told WHBQ-TV that he was given troubling information when he approached administrators about his homecoming date. “I was given several examples of statistics like they said gay couples have higher divorce rates, and that they're violent; just different things that didn't make sense, and I’ve come to find aren't true,” Sanderson said. “They said specifically as a Catholic school, they couldn't support that … and that they struggled with the idea of me taking a guy to homecoming or prom.”

• published: 25 Sep 2015
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