Aaron Fricke
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Aaron Fricke | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 25, 1962 |
Aaron Fricke is a gay rights activist. He was born January 25, 1962 in Providence, Rhode Island. He is best known for the pivotal case in which he successfully sued his high school for not allowing him to bring his boyfriend to the senior prom at Cumberland High School in Cumberland, Rhode Island.[1][2]
Court case
Shortly after he came out in 1980, Fricke began seeing another male student. Fricke decided to bring him as his date to the prom. When the high school informed Fricke he could not bring him to the prom, he filed suit in U.S. District court. The presiding judge, Raymond J. Pettine, ruled in Fricke's favor, ordering the school to not only allow him and his partner to attend as a couple but also to provide enough security to ensure their safety.[1] The case received considerable media attention,[3] and news camera crews filmed and interviewed the couple at the dance.[4]
The case set a precedent, that has been used across the United States, to establish a legal right for students to bring same sex partners to school proms and other school social events.[5]
Writing
Fricke later wrote of his experience in a book, Reflections of a Rock Lobster: A Story about Growing Up Gay.[6] He later collaborated with his father, Walter, on Sudden Strangers: the Story of a Gay Son and his Father,[7] a book about their relationship and of the elder Fricke's coming to terms with his son's homosexuality. That book was published shortly after Walter Fricke's death from cancer in 1989.
Fricke's archive material, covering the period of writing the two books, is held in the San Francisco Public Library[8].
See also
References
- ^ a b ACLU: Who are you taking to the prom this year?
- ^ United States District Court for the district of Rhode Island: Aaron Fricke v. Richard B. Lynch
- ^ Chicago Tribune: Private matters now get taken to the prom (payment required for full article)
- ^ Boyer, David (2004). Kings and Queens. Boston: Soft Skull Press. pp. 64, 67. ISBN 9781932360240. OCLC 56041942.
- ^ ACLU: Free Speech, Free Expression and Prom
- ^ Fricke, Aaron (1981). Reflections of a Rock Lobster: A Story about Growing Up Gay. Boston : Alyson Books. ISBN 9780932870094. OCLC 7675638.
- ^ Fricke, Aaron (1991). Sudden Strangers : the Story of a Gay Son and his Father. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312058692. OCLC 22951971.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ San Francisco Public Library: AARON FRICKE PAPERS 1980-1991
External links
- Profile at the Living Room
- Pomp & circumstance
- Aaron Fricke Diaries — OurStory.com