Mother protests after being turned away from father-daughter dance with son

A New Hampshire woman is protesting the 20-year tradition of her community's father-daughter dance, after being told the event was reserved for fathers and daughters.

What are the details?

Mother Jennifer Meade told the Valley News she bought four tickets to the event last weekend by the Carter Community Building Association. She arrived with her boyfriend, daughter and son, and says she and her son were kicked out. Her boyfriend and daughter decided to leave, too.

Meade is now protesting over the event's gender exclusion.

"In this day and age, it's not like your gender should define what type of parent you really are," she told the Valley News. "I don't understand why I have to be a dad to celebrate Valentine's Day with my kids."

CCBA executive director Shelby Day disputed the mother's claim, saying, "(Meade) was not kicked out. She was encouraged to remain in the building and to hang out in our game room downstairs."

"It's a father-daughter dance," Day explained. "That is what this (event) is about."

The CCBA also has a mother-son dance slated for the spring, and a family dance will be held in the fall.

Anything else?

Meade isn't alone in her feelings. A growing number of father-daughter dances across the country are being forced to allow mothers and boys to participate to be more inclusive, or canceled altogether in what many are calling an overreach of politically correct culture.

In 2017, the Crocker/Riverside Elementary School's Father-Daughter dance in Sacramento was changed to a family dance after a few parents asked that the event be more inclusive. School principal Daniel McCord told KTXL-TV he didn't receive any pushback over the decision, saying the community was supportive.

"However the child wants to define their family, whoever they want to bring with them they're able to do that," McCord said, saying the change was a teaching moment for students.

Last week, the principal of Staten Island Public School 65 told the PTA to pull the plug on its annual father-daughter dance because of the New York Department of Education's new Gender Nonconforming Student Guidelines, prohibiting events with "gender based practices."

Department spokeswoman Toya Holness told the New York Post that schools "must ensure that such events are gender-neutral and open to all students and their person(s) in parental relation."

The DOE's LGBT community liaison, Jared Fox, further explained: "Father-daughter dances inherently leave people out. Not just because of transgender status, just life in general. These can be really uncomfortable and triggering events."

But many parents aren't happy with the decision, and have taken to social media disputing the school's decision.

Mother Akaia Cameron, whose third-grade daughter attended the event with her father last year, told the Post, "All this gender crap needs to just stop."