PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Governor Chafee has decided to let a bill allowing "father-daughter'' dances and other gender-specific school events to continue, despite calls from more than a dozen womens' groups for a veto.
The legislation, introduced by Sen. Hanna M. Gallo, D- Cranston, in the wake of last year's uproar over a canceled " father- daughter" dance in that city, would permit " father-daughter" or "mother-son" events as long as "reasonable comparable activities" are provided for students of the opposite sex.
Last year, the Cranston School Committee canceled a father-daughter dance after the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint on behalf of a single mother of a fourth-grader at the Stadium Elementary School.
The mother had contacted the ACLU after a local parent-teacher association planned a "Me and My Guy Dinner Dance." The invitation asked students to bring "the adult male" of their choice.
The legislation was fashioned after an exemption in the federal Title IX law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in education. The exemption allows gender-specific events if "reasonable comparable activities" are provided for the opposite sex. Rhode Island law had no such exception.
But in a letter to Chafee, opponents argued that the bill is a "clear violation" of federal anti-discrimination laws that potentially expose school districts to costly litigation.
They said that the bill is overly broad and vague, effectively permits separation of boys and girls in all school extracurricular activities, and sanctions activities that "reflect sex stereotypes."
The Cranston girl dances/boy baseball outings "embodied the very type of sex stereotypes that school-related anti-discrimination laws are designed to prevent," the groups said in their letter. "Rhode Island public schools should not be in the position of telling girls and boys which programs or activities they should be interested in based solely on their sex."
Groups signing the letter included: the National Coalition of Women and Girls in Education, National Women's Law Center, American Association of University Women, ACLU Women's Rights Project, Women's Sports Foundation and the National Council of Jewish Women. The ACLU, the Women's Fund of Rhode Island, and the R.I. National Organization for Women sent their own letter urging a veto.
Chafee has not yet given his rationale for allowing the bill to become law, in spite of the concerns.
The new law specifically allows schools to provide "extracurricular activities for students of one sex, including, but not limited to, father-daughter/mother-son activities, but if such activities are provided for students of one sex, opportunities for reasonably comparable activities shall be provided for students of the other sex.
"School districts are required to allow and notify students that they may bring the adult of
their parent's or guardian's choice to the event.''