By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Mar 26 | In yet another development of the ongoing saga of Gay Georgia teen Derrick Martin's quest attend the prom with his boyfriend, Richard Goodman-fellow students and classmates of Bleckley County High School, staged a rally at the county courthouse Thursday evening, protesting the decision by Bleckley school system officials last week granting permission for Martin to take his boyfriend to the prom. The decision marked the first decision in the county’s history about a same-sex couple attending the prom there.
Photo of Richard Goodman By Project Q Atlanta
The rally’s organizer, Amber Duskin, sent text messages to high school students Wednesday asking them to show up. The senior said she asked her high school to return her prom ticket money and does not plan to attend because of Martin.“I don’t believe in going up there and dancing with gay guys like that,” she said. “It’s also not just him bringing a boy. It was bringing all this attention to it.”
In the interview with Hubbard, Martin said talk at school Thursday was that the prom committee may do away with the traditional “walk through” when students and their dates are announced as they enter the prom. He’s also heard some students are trying to have a separate prom.
As a result of the media attention, Martin’s parents have kicked him out of their home, and he’s staying with a friend in Cochran. Martin’s father is a math teacher at Bleckley County High and is the school’s Teacher of the Year.
“I think his dad is embarrassed,” said sophomore Brittany Bohannon. As school faculty were introduced at an unrelated motivational speaking event Thursday, Martin’s father attended but stood in the background, she said.
Martin also remarked,
“People thought it was OK I was going to prom but not OK with me telling anybody. All this media attention has gotten people scared Cochran is an openly gay community.”
Martin said the rally has not changed his plans to attend the prom with his boyfriend, Richard Goodman, of neighboring Tifton, Georgia. But Martin said he might not talk to media until after the prom to help minimize the attention that so many feel is unwelcome.
Hubbard reported that most of the dozen attending the rally said they weren’t bothered by Martin being gay or being allowed to attend prom with his partner. But they said the school system’s decision has brought too much attention to their small town.
"We knew Derrick was gay,” said Keith Bowman Jr., a high school senior who showed up at the rally. “They don’t want (Cochran) to be known as a pro gay town.”
A local resident said;
“People who don’t know the area will think it reflects on everybody,” said John Smith, a grandfather who owns an air-conditioning business in Cochran. Before he stopped by the rally, he asked county officials Thursday if a separate prom could be held at the city’s recreation center, he said.
UPDATE: Project Q Atlanta reported Martin been invited by Ellen DeGeneres to appear on her show. He also told Project Q, commenting on the protests & media blitz;
“Being kicked out of his home by his parents on Tuesday because of the media attention this story has garnered hasn’t dissuaded from being who he is. ‘I know they had the right because it’s their house. Now I just want to get an apartment and then go to college,’ he said. Martin has a scholarship to Georgia Southern where he will be major in pre-law. Martin said Tuesday was an average day. He went to school and then to his job with a state tutoring program for at-risk third, fourth, fifth grade students and middle schools students to help them pass the CRCT. When he got home that evening his mother told him to pack his bags and leave. ‘So I packed my stuff and left,’ he said. ‘She said it was disrespectful of me’ to interview with a local TV station.”
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