Gay Boys Allowed to Attend Prom Together After TV News Intervenes

A gay high school couple from Livingston Parish, La., who were initially forbidden to attend their prom, were allowed to show up at the event together Saturday, after Baton Rouge TV station WBRZ intervened.

The station called the district superintendent looking for answers after being contacted by the mother of one of the gay teens who was told he couldn't bring a same-sex date.

Mother Tamblie Babin said she contacted the station after calling her son Raymond's school. "I asked her why Raymond couldn't take his boyfriend to prom and she said that they didn't allow same sex going to prom together [because] it was against school regulations," Babin told the station.

To make matters worse, Babin's son had texted his mother to tell her of his predicament and was then suspended for using his phone in school, and suspended students aren't allowed to attend school functions, according to the station.

The station phoned Livingston Parish school superintendent John Watson to ask about French Settlement High School's policies, and Watson said he wouldn't tolerate anyone in the school district being discriminated against. Shortly thereafter the boys, who had bought matching tuxedos, were informed that they would be allowed to attend the school event.

Sophomore Nicholas Newport, who was Raymond's prom date, explained that being inclusive is important: "We are all humans here -- it doesn't matter what race, what gender, what ethnicity, [or] what orientation. It doesn't matter -- it's just a person."

As for Babin, the experience presents another set of lessons: "You've got to back your kid 100 percent regardless if they are gay or straight or anything."