I think the "Artistic License – Law" bit is questionable - what was done was pretty close to what happened in the RL Mississippi case (the only difference being that IIRC the "other prom" was notionally not an official event - but even here it is unclear about official sanction vs unofficial action with almost everybody involved). If the school officially did that, yes, that'd be a separate-but-equal matter. But if the school throws a Prom/dance and nobody shows up (or they all go to another event at the same time), it's kind-of hard for the courts to stop them. The most they might be able to do is force the school to pay damages - trying to force the other students to show up would likely be a fool's errand (and besides, would almost assuredly not be successfully litigated in the closing weeks of a school year).
I think the "Artistic License – Law" bit is questionable - what was done was pretty close to what happened in the RL Mississippi case (the only difference being that IIRC the "other prom" was notionally not an official event - but even here it is unclear about official sanction vs unofficial action with almost everybody involved). If the school officially did that, yes, that'd be a separate-but-equal matter. But if the school throws a Prom/dance and nobody shows up (or they all go to another event at the same time), it's kind-of hard for the courts to stop them. The most they might be able to do is force the school to pay damages - trying to force the other students to show up would likely be a fool's errand (and besides, would almost assuredly not be successfully litigated in the closing weeks of a school year).
Edited by Gray