Father – Daughter Dances Banned in Rhode Island

A Rhode Island schools superintendent has ended the district’s father-daughter dances and mother-son ballgames to comply with a state gender discrimination law, prompting some to complain that the move is an example of political correctness gone awry.

Cranston Mayor Allan Fung said he was “utterly disappointed” that the Cranston schools superintendent nixed the events in what the mayor called “the name of political correctness” after the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union complained last spring.

In a letter to school organizations last month, Schools Superintendent Judith Lundsten said that school district attorneys reviewing the complaint found that, while federal gender discrimination laws exempt such events, Rhode Island law does not.