Recently, the New York Daily News conducted a poll on its website asking readers whether St. Anthony’s High School on Long Island had the right to bar a female student from bringing her ex-girlfriend to the prom.
Readers were asked the following: “Should the Catholic school have the right to bar same-sex couples at the prom?” The Daily News’ answers were: 1) Yes, it’s a private institution and homosexuality goes against church teachings; 2) No, we’re talking about a prom, not marriage, the school shouldn’t exclude anyone; 3) I don’t know.
By posing the question in terms of rights—instead of asking whether readers agree with the decision—the Daily News made this issue into a matter of church and state, implying that it is a rebuttal assumption on the part of St. Anthony’s that it has the right to determine its own rules.
After seeing this, we decided to conduct our own poll asking: “Should the Daily News be allowed to hire columnist Jimmy Breslin, despite his long record of Catholic bashing?”
We asked our members to contact the Daily News with their answers. Hope they got our point.
