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A school district in Rhode Island has ended its traditional father-daughter and mother-son sanctioned events, saying they violate a state gender discrimination law.
The move came after a single mother complained that her daughter had not been able to attend her father-daughter dance.
The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to school officials on behalf of the mother, the Providence Journal reported.
School attorneys looked into the matter and found that national Title IX legislation exempts activities like father-daughter dances and mother-son ballgames. However, Rhode Island state law does not, the lawyers said.
The school then moved to ban such events.
"I truly believe that no one intended to hurt anyone's feelings with this. That they wanted to be inclusive, but that they also like the traditional type of activities," said Superintendent Judith Lundsten.
But some local leaders feel the ban neither protects students who might face discrimination, nor students who would want to attend such events.
"In the zeal to protect people who feel they are being disenfranchised, this policy has completely denied our children of one of the most cherished traditions in their school experience," said Cranston Mayor Allan Fung.
The Rhode Island ACLU told WPRI that Cranston school officials made the right move.
"The school district recognized that in the 21st Century, public schools have no business fostering the notion that girls prefer to go to formal dances while boys prefer baseball games. This type of gender stereotyping only perpetuates outdated notions of "girl" and "boy" activities and is contrary to federal law," Executive Director Steven Brown said.
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