I have to wonder if the student body would actually support such an "alternative prom". My high school experience was probably pretty different from one in small town Indiana, but students I know definitely wouldn't have tolerated that kind of bigotry.
Spent most of my childhood in small town Indiana.
At the small town high school I went to, a couple of my friends tried to attend homecoming as a couple to get the discount. They were subsequently barred from entry to the event at all. I think there were only a dozen or so students at that school who weren't raging homophobics, so no one cared. I regularly heard incredibly disgusting and degrading gay jokes there, and everyone would laugh. Part of the basis for the bullying I suffered there was people suspected I was gay, purely on the basis that I was socially awkward, and never had a girlfriend. My small group of friends (who I unfortunately only met the very last year I went there) reported that school for all kinds of abuses, and somehow they managed to stonewall the ICLU and turn back health inspectors.
Thing is, the fact that we're hearing about this actually represents a step forward. If she'd said it fifteen, maybe even ten years ago, we'd never know about it.
But this was about 15 years ago. I wonder what it's like there now. My experience with Indiana is the same I hear about most places. Rural areas are extremely conservative, cities are more liberal-leaning, and suburbs are very mixed. Basically if you travel more than half an hour outside of Indianapolis or Bloomington, you're in god and guns land... and meth... sooo much meth.