School's Prom Vote Stirs Battle Royal (by Eli Sanders - The Seattle Times)

The story line:

Ferndale, Wash. - People in this town are annoyed with Krystal Bennett. It's not because she's a lesbian, they say, but because she demeaned a time-honored high-school tradition.
What happened is this: On April 28, at the Ferndale High School senior prom, Ms. Bennett was voted prom king.
No one in Ferndale, including Ms. Bennett, knows whether the vote was a joke or a statement.
But by embracing the gender-bending election results, Ms. Bennet, the only openly gay student at Ferndale High School, caused waves of consternation to ripple through this town near the Canadian border.
In response, the high school is crafting a policy to ensure that at future proms, the king will be male, the queen female.
The rule will protect traditional gender roles, but it does not address a deeper issue. In Ferndale, Ms. Bennett's coronation is seen by some as another example of pushy gays and lesbians promoting their agenda.
"What it does, this whole thing, is that it imposes something on society that, if truth be known, our society is not yet ready to accept," said Tina Mauler, a parent of a Ferndale High student.
In interviews, many in Ferndale said they are not prepared to embrace gays, at least not to the extent that they have been in some urban areas.
"When you talk about a big city like Seattle, you're talking about people who have an incredibly wide range of experiences, values, viewpoints," said Father Tim Sauer of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Ferndale.
"But in a community like this, the influence of Christianity and the Christian church is a lot more strong. And as a group, I think you have a lot of people here who live more by traditional values because of their rural nature and because of their faith."
Ferndale City Council member Albert Lavine is one such person. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he said he would not tolerate homosexuality in his house.
"It was better when they were in the closet than out," Mr. Lavine said. "I definitely wouldn't want my children to be homosexual."
For many in the town of nearly 9,000 people, religion is the main lens through which gays are viewed. Ferndale has more than 15 churches, with more just outside of town.
"When you talk about things from Christian perspective, it is clear that God's plan and design was for sexual relations to be between a man and a woman," Father Sauer said. His church teaches that homosexual sex is a sin. But it also teaches that gays can be accepted because in Christianity, Father Sauer said, "the clear dictum is 'Hate the sin but love the sinner.'"
Some in Ferndale use this idea to promote a tolerance of homosexuals that contains a significant caveat: Hate the sin, love the sinners, but lovingly try to change them.
"I guarantee the vast majority of our school thinks there is something a little bit disgusting or very wrong about homosexuality," said Landin Fusman, student body president of Ferndale High.
The night of the Ferndale prom, every student who showed up was handed a ballot and told to write in one name for king and one for queen.
Krystal Bennett came with her date, Connie Terrell, who doesn't go to school.
The prom queen was Kara Johnson. Her boyfriend, Joey Joshua, was runner-up for king. Ms. Johnson said neither she nor Mr. Joshua minded that Ms. Bennett was elected king.
"It's not that big of a deal," she said. "It's high school. Let it go."
But the next week at school, many were not ready to let go.
Parents started calling the principal. A local talk-radio program picked up the issue. Soon curious reporters started turning up in Ferndale, and Ms. Bennet began drawing stares at the grocery store.
Ms. Bennett also got people at school talking.
"My parents, they were...disgraced by it," senior Chris Pitcher, 18, said one recent afternoon as a group of students gathered outside Ferndale Hign to talk about the prom-king vote. Like others, Mr. Pitcher said the whole issue has been overblown. The prom was lame anyway, he said.
"It was too small," he said.
"Gay music." "That's what boys say when they don't like stuff," explained a friend, senior Heather Hartman.

In her freshman year at Ferndale, Ms. Bennett told some friends about her sexuality, and they told other people, and pretty soon Ms. Bennet was "out." Since then, she's been called the usual names.
The principal of Ferndale High won't discuss the prom-king issue, but Mr. Fusman, the Ferndale student body president, said the new rule regarding prom votes should keep such a furor from erupting again.
For Ms. Bennett, all the fuss has made her rethink her plans. She used to imagine herself staying in Whatcome County.
"I'm not sure if I want to stick around here locally after some of the comments and things that I've heard," Ms. Bennett said. "I'm not sure if I want to surround myself with that negativity."
Like many gay people from rural towns, she thinks about moving to a big city, maybe Seattle.
"It's a bigger city, more diversity," she said. "And somewhere not here."

The comment line:
Every once in a while, has anyone ever wondered why the first thing that comes out from a small conservative town in any country would be, "Our town is dying.....Nobody wants to live in our town!"?
People can move in if only the host unlock the door. Simple is that. only they were let in. Once one's heart is willing to open to let others in, nothing becomes such a big deal. Writing this, it once reminds me another favorite quote from Gautama Siddharta (popularly known as Buddha), "Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed."