Hi all. About two weeks ago, I posted about my brother's school's prom rule.

My mom confirmed this rule on a phone call and predictably refused to take any action or even speak out against it other than shaking her head and admitting it was horrific. Image will always be most important to people that steeped in evangelical church culture, it seems. I spoke with a couple more liberated Christian friends and they recommended I speak up. I found out that one of them has actually spoken out against similar crises in faith communities.

So after avoiding it for too long, I plucked up the courage and gave the school an anonymous call. The woman who answered had never heard of this rule. She put me on hold to ask someone in the administration about it, and they also said that this rule does not exist. The woman who answered said that it is always nice to say yes (which I found weird in and of itself), but that it is not a rule.

I was very clear with my question and the answer was that yes, you can refuse someone's prom invitation and still attend the prom without being that person's date. In fact, the person with whom I spoke said that anyone who had been asked and wasn't sure how to say no or felt uncomfortable was welcome to consult a school counselor to get help with figuring out how to turn the person down.

So it sounds like unreliable information from my family, and that the school actually supports people who are uncomfortable with a prom invitation.

I'm going to sleep a lot better tonight.