Personally, I think a lot less was made of this before the GLBT lobby started insisting on rights and special treatment.
I’m not sure why a girl in a tux would disrupt a dance, but making national headlines about it certainly does. I wasn’t aware of any rules that required you to bring a date to the prom, or to wear a specific outfit, so I don’t see how she and her “date” couldn’t have just shown up however they wanted.
But the fact that we knew about this in advance suggests that they made a big deal out of it, forcing it to be a public matter, and this is what happened.
In my school, if we were bringing date who didn't go to our school we had to fill out a short form that basically said they weren't wanted or over 21.
We had a bunch of girls in my class who went as a group, so why she had to make such a big deal about it makes me think she had an agenda, too.
I think you are on the money. Kids have gone to proms “with a group of friends” since forever; no requirement to have a “date.” Had they just gone to the dance to have fun and not made this an issue, there would have been no further action.
We had a fellow running for the school board a few years ago who was asked about this at a forum. He said he had no problem with what consenting adults did behind closed doors, but the last time he checked high school kids were not adults. He did not think this lifestyle should be condoned by the public schools.