Mississippi school prom off after lesbian's date request - Page 3

Soon · 03-15-2010, 03:27 PM

Hey Lesbians, Did You Take a Girl to the Dance/Prom? We Want Your Photos!

A Mississippi school would rather shut down prom than invite a cute lesbian couple. Well, that’s nonsense! Let’s get visible, lesbian/bisexuals/queers/etc. Autostraddle wants your cute same-sex prom/fancypants/homecoming photos. You could even win a prize!

So this girl Constance McMillen wanted to take a girl to prom, and wear a tux, and the principal was like hell to the no, and then the ACLU got involved, and then the school just decided it would be better to cancel prom altogether. Why are they so afraid of how cute girls look in menswear? No but srsly.
We have a feeling, even though we are old, that some girls are bringing girls to homecoming/prom/fancy-wear day dances these days. Amirite? Are you one of those girls/boys? Well let’s celebrate those photos everyone is so f*cking afraid of! VISIBILITY, LADIES!
Send us your prom photos

GALLERY

Soon · 03-17-2010, 08:00 PM

Constance McMillen Is Back in Fulton, Mississippi, Is Super Grateful for Your Support, and Wants You to Be Nice

"When it first started, I just wanted to take my girlfriend to prom, you know? I thought it might make the local news and maybe help future LGBT students at Itawamba because hopefully they wouldn’t have to put up with what I did. I sure didn't expect any of this kind of attention. [snip]

"Anytime I feel like this is too hard, I think about the support I'm getting. And I’m just ecstatic that so many people would come together like this. I never dreamed there could be so much support out there for me. It’s just amazing. I’m so thankful. The locals don’t like me, but I can’t help it. And things were really hostile in school last week after they cancelled prom. People were rude, and if people talked to me at all it was real short answers. There are a few people who are with me, my real friends, people who are intelligent enough to realize what's really going on here. But the majority are not on my side." - Mississippi teen Constance McMillen, speaking with Dan Savage, who has been spearheading a national letter writing campaign to the administrators of McMillen's school board.

Join Constance's Facebook support group, which currently has over 320K members.

Soon · 03-23-2010, 03:47 PM

Judge won't force Miss. district to hold prom

AP

JACKSON, Miss. – A Mississippi school district violated a lesbian student's rights by banning her from bringing her girlfriend to the prom, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, but he stopped short of forcing the district to hold the event.

U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson denied an American Civil Liberties Union request for a preliminary injunction that would have forced the Itawamba County school district to sponsor the April 2 prom and allow Constance McMillen to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.

Davidson did say he will hold a trial on the issue later, but he did not set a date and any ruling would likely come too late to force the district to hold the prom when it was originally scheduled.

Davidson's order says the district violated McMillen's constitutional rights by denying her request to bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo, and ACLU Mississippi legal director Kristy Bennett called that a victory.

She said Davidson's order allows McMillen to amend her petition within 30 days, meaning she could sue for damages because she couldn't get the prom reinstated.

Davidson said he denied the injunction request because a private prom parents are planning will serve the same purpose as the school prom. He wrote in his ruling that "requiring defendants to step back into a sponsorship role at this late date would only confuse and confound the community on the issue."

School officials said in court they decided to call off the prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School because McMillen's challenge to the rules had caused disruptions.

Ben Griffith, the school district's attorney, said his clients were pleased with Davidson's ruling.

McMillen first approached school officials about bringing her girlfriend in December, and again in February. Same-sex prom dates had been banned in the past, but she had hoped school officials would grant her request.

"I thought maybe the policy had been in place for a different reason," McMillen testified at a hearing on the ACLU lawsuit. "I wanted to let them know how it made me feel. I felt like I couldn't go to the prom."

She was told two girls couldn't attend the prom together and she wouldn't be allowed to wear a tuxedo, court documents show. The ACLU issued a demand letter earlier this month and the district responded by canceling the event.
District officials said they felt not hosting the prom was the best decision "after taking into consideration the education, safety and well being of our students." Superintendent Teresa McNeece said it was "a no-win situation."
The 715-student high school is located in Fulton, a town of about 4,000 in rural, north Mississippi. The entire county school district has 3,588 students.
McMillen, who lives with her grandmother and has a 3.8 grade point average, has kept her 16-year-old girlfriend out of the spotlight at the request of the girl's parents.

Her case has become a cause celebre since the school district canceled the prom March 10.

She has appeared on the "The Early Show," "The Wanda Sykes Show" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about how she is fighting for tolerance. DeGeneres presented her with a $30,000 college scholarship from Tonic, a digital media company. A Facebook page set up by the ACLU for McMillen has over 400,000 fans.

The teen has said repeatedly that gay students should have the same rights as the their straight counterparts, and while she has been praised on the national scene, her words mean little to some in Fulton.

McMillen said she encountered "hostility" from students who blamed her for the prom's cancellation.

Days after the district announced it would not host the prom, local townsfolk posted signs on the high school reading "What happened to the Bible Belt?" and "Why would we condone this?"

Queerasfck · 03-23-2010, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

Judge won't force Miss. district to hold prom

AP

JACKSON, Miss. – A Mississippi school district violated a lesbian student's rights by banning her from bringing her girlfriend to the prom, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, but he stopped short of forcing the district to hold the event.

U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson denied an American Civil Liberties Union request for a preliminary injunction that would have forced the Itawamba County school district to sponsor the April 2 prom and allow Constance McMillen to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.

Davidson did say he will hold a trial on the issue later, but he did not set a date and any ruling would likely come too late to force the district to hold the prom when it was originally scheduled.

Davidson's order says the district violated McMillen's constitutional rights by denying her request to bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo, and ACLU Mississippi legal director Kristy Bennett called that a victory.

She said Davidson's order allows McMillen to amend her petition within 30 days, meaning she could sue for damages because she couldn't get the prom reinstated.

Davidson said he denied the injunction request because a private prom parents are planning will serve the same purpose as the school prom. He wrote in his ruling that "requiring defendants to step back into a sponsorship role at this late date would only confuse and confound the community on the issue."

School officials said in court they decided to call off the prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School because McMillen's challenge to the rules had caused disruptions.

Ben Griffith, the school district's attorney, said his clients were pleased with Davidson's ruling.

McMillen first approached school officials about bringing her girlfriend in December, and again in February. Same-sex prom dates had been banned in the past, but she had hoped school officials would grant her request.

"I thought maybe the policy had been in place for a different reason," McMillen testified at a hearing on the ACLU lawsuit. "I wanted to let them know how it made me feel. I felt like I couldn't go to the prom."

She was told two girls couldn't attend the prom together and she wouldn't be allowed to wear a tuxedo, court documents show. The ACLU issued a demand letter earlier this month and the district responded by canceling the event.
District officials said they felt not hosting the prom was the best decision "after taking into consideration the education, safety and well being of our students." Superintendent Teresa McNeece said it was "a no-win situation."
The 715-student high school is located in Fulton, a town of about 4,000 in rural, north Mississippi. The entire county school district has 3,588 students.
McMillen, who lives with her grandmother and has a 3.8 grade point average, has kept her 16-year-old girlfriend out of the spotlight at the request of the girl's parents.

Her case has become a cause celebre since the school district canceled the prom March 10.

She has appeared on the "The Early Show," "The Wanda Sykes Show" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about how she is fighting for tolerance. DeGeneres presented her with a $30,000 college scholarship from Tonic, a digital media company. A Facebook page set up by the ACLU for McMillen has over 400,000 fans.

The teen has said repeatedly that gay students should have the same rights as the their straight counterparts, and while she has been praised on the national scene, her words mean little to some in Fulton.

McMillen said she encountered "hostility" from students who blamed her for the prom's cancellation.

Days after the district announced it would not host the prom, local townsfolk posted signs on the high school reading "What happened to the Bible Belt?" and "Why would we condone this?"

What I thought was really telling about Ms. McMillen's belief about all this is that when she was on the Ellen Degeneres show Ellen offered to throw Ms McMillen a prom but she wants to have a prom at her school just like most kids do.
For someone her age to be so driven for doing the right thing is just amazing to me. The ruling was a small victory I guess. Wish more was done.

Soon · 03-25-2010, 02:11 PM

Trans Student Suspended from Same School in Mississippi That Canceled Prom, Later Hounded Out of Town

SuperFemme · 03-25-2010, 02:24 PM

Oh for fucks sake.
This breaks my heart even more.

What kind of world do we live in?

Nat · 04-05-2010, 08:54 PM

the "alternative" prom organized to replace the prom cancelled at Itawamba High School was a decoy for the "outcasts" like Constance McMillen while the "cool straight kids" prom was held elsewhere

link

Soon · 04-13-2010, 03:11 PM

CONSTANCE MCMILLEN TO MAKE FIRST PRIDE APPEARANCE
& SERVE AS GRAND MARSHAL OF THE 41st ANNUAL NYC LGBT PRIDE MARCH

NYC Pride March

Soon · 04-18-2010, 06:53 AM

Why We Need to Keep High School Prom for Heterosexuals

Soon · 04-19-2010, 04:24 PM

Bleckley prom goes smoothly

lyric · 04-19-2010, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

Why We Need to Keep High School Prom for Heterosexuals

Loved that! LOL
Thanks for sharing!

And this...

Quote:

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

Bleckley prom goes smoothly

... is fantastic!

Soon · 04-21-2010, 01:20 PM

The ACLU has filed amended their lawsuit against lesbian teen Constance McMillan's Mississippi school district to include charges of conspiring with parents to lure Constance to a "decoy prom" while most students attended a much larger event in another town. Via press release:

On March 23, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi issued a preliminary ruling in McMillen’s case that school officials violated McMillen’s First Amendment rights when it canceled the high school prom rather than let McMillen attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. The court stopped short of ordering Itawamba Agricultural High School (IAHS) to put the school prom back on the calendar relying on assurances that an alternative “private” prom being planned by parents would be open to all students, including McMillen. However, according to legal papers, at a meeting with school officials, parents then decided to cancel that private prom without notifying McMillen because they did not want to allow McMillen to attend, instead organizing a “decoy” prom for McMillen and her date and still another prom for the rest of the class. McMillen and her date then attended the event the school had told her was “the prom for juniors and seniors” on April 2, where they found only seven other students attending. Principal Trae Wiygul and several school staff members were supervising that event while most of McMillen’s classmates were at the other prom in Evergreen, Mississippi.

The amended complaint against the school district notes that Constance has been ostracized, humiliated, and subjected to text message taunts such as "I don’t know why you come to this school because no one likes your gay ass anyways."

Soon · 04-23-2010, 10:28 PM

Via JoeMyGod:

Westboro Baptist Church has announced on their website (NFSW) that they will be picketing the graduation ceremony of Constance McMillen's high school in Mississippi.

WBC will picket the graduation of Itawamba Agricultural High School to remind the parents, teachers and students of this nation that God said "Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind, it is abomination." Leviticus 18:22.

This generation has been raised to believe that they can live for the devil and still go to heaven, that God has no standards and the biggest lie of all - that God loves everyone. The parents of Fulton, MS feign outrage that a filthy dyke wants to parade her "girlfriend" around at their night of fornication called a prom. They had a duty to teach their children what the Lord requires of them. They shirked this duty. The Lord repays them to their face by sending dykes, burning in their lusts, to tyrannize them. "For this cause God gave them up to vile affections: for even their women did change their natural use which is is against nature." Romans 1:26

While we've seen many moving examples of young people protesting the presence of Westboro, it will be very interesting to see how the people of Constance's hometown react to this. Encouragingly, a Facebook group against the picket has already appeared.

Soon · 06-21-2010, 05:28 PM

Lesbian teen looks to life after controversy

ACKSON, Miss. — Constance McMillen started the month graduating from a strange high school in tears. She will end it meeting President Obama, attending a benefit concert with pop legend Ronnie Spector and marching in a New York City parade.

It's been that kind of year for the openly gay 18-year-old who made national news when her Fulton, Miss., high school canceled its prom after she asked to bring her girlfriend.

McMillen will attend a White House reception Tuesday for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens from around the nation in recognition of gay pride month.

Soon · 07-20-2010, 08:45 AM

SCORE: Constance McMillen's Old High School Pays Up $35k, Creates Non-Discrimination Policy

Itawamba County School District, which refused to let Constance McMillen attend her own high school prom, and then allegedly aided in creating a separate private prom that Constance wasn't invited to, is settling charges filed against it by Constance and the ACLU, according to a release.

Constance will receive $35k in damages and attorneys fees while Itawamba will institute a non-discrimination policy that includes sexuality orientation and gender identity — the first school, notes the ACLU, to do so in Mississippi.

Technically, this falls into the "win" column: Constance succeeded in having her school confess its sins and pay her for failing one of its students (though really, it failed all of its students). And while Constance did manage to graduate from another high school a tad more accepting, and did get to dance at a number of proms, and did get to serve as grand marshal in gay pride parades, and did become a beacon of hope for all queer teens, she was also a high school senior victimized by her own school, and that's never something to be happy about.

Read more: http://www.queerty.com/score-constan...#ixzz0uEZO0LyT

suebee · 07-20-2010, 09:10 AM

While it's a shame Constance couldn't go to a typical prom as HERSELF, which is obviously what she wanted to do, the reverberations from her courage will surely have positive effects. And I'm sure it will mold her into an adult who is enriched, rather than impoverished by her experiences.

Constance is a force to be reckoned with. Shame on the so-called "educators" who schemed to take her last real highschool experience away from her. I think it backfired on them, don't you?

Soon · 10-08-2010, 10:11 AM

ABC Family Developing Film With Craig Zadan And Neil Meron About Lesbian Teen Who Was Banned From Prom

EXCLUSIVE: The topic of gay teen bullying has dominated the media lately with news reports of five teen boys taking their lives last month alone after being harassed because of their sexual orientation. One of the rare cases where the bullying led to a happy ending -- the story of rural Mississipi lesbian high school student Constance McMillen who successfully sued the local school district for discrimination -- will become a TV movie for ABC Family. The project, in early stages of development, hails from Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and Sony Pictures TV who have optioned the rights to McMillen’s story. Ghost Whisperer creator/executive producer John Gray will write the script and is expected to direct.

In March, McMillen challenged the Itawamba County School District when it barred her from attending her prom because she wanted to bring her girlfriend as her date and wear a tuxedo. The district responded by canceling the prom, prompting the ACLU to file a lawsuit claiming the teen's rights had been violated. The flap led to a backlash by many of McMillen’s friends, their parents and the school board who turned against her. Because of the constant harassment, she had to pull out of her Itawamba Agricultural High School and finished her senior year at a school in Jackson, Miss. But McMillen's case quickly drew nationwide attention and she ended up receiving a $30,000 scholarship from Ellen DeGeneres, serving as a grand marshal for New York's Gay Pride Parade and attending a reception at the White House hosted by President Barack Obama. She also recently won a $35,000 settlement in the lawsuit against her school district, with the district agreeing to follow a non-discrimination policy.

Openly-gay producers Zadan and Meron, currently shepherding the Footloose feature remake, have a track record of producing socially-conscious movies about gays. They won GLAAD Media Awards for Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story and for What Makes A Family. Both films were produced by Sony TV under EVP Helen Verno and co-produced with Barbra Streisand. Zadan, Meron and Sony took a lighter approach to the subject with Wedding Wars, the first film about gay marriage. Meanwhile, ABC Family was noted in GLAAD’s annual TV report last week for increasing the number of LGBT characters on its shows. Gray previously collaborated with Zadan, Meron and Sony on the telefilms Brian's Song and Martin & Lewis. His feature White Irish Drinkers recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

As for the aftermath of the recent tragic gay teen suicides, Hollywood has been at the forefront of the fight against discrimination and abuse, with a number of gay celebrities taping videos in support of gay students.

03-17-2010, 08:00 PM	#42
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	Interview with Dan Savage Constance McMillen Is Back in Fulton, Mississippi, Is Super Grateful for Your Support, and Wants You to Be Nice "When it first started, I just wanted to take my girlfriend to prom, you know? I thought it might make the local news and maybe help future LGBT students at Itawamba because hopefully they wouldn’t have to put up with what I did. I sure didn't expect any of this kind of attention. [snip] "Anytime I feel like this is too hard, I think about the support I'm getting. And I’m just ecstatic that so many people would come together like this. I never dreamed there could be so much support out there for me. It’s just amazing. I’m so thankful. The locals don’t like me, but I can’t help it. And things were really hostile in school last week after they cancelled prom. People were rude, and if people talked to me at all it was real short answers. There are a few people who are with me, my real friends, people who are intelligent enough to realize what's really going on here. But the majority are not on my side." - Mississippi teen Constance McMillen, speaking with Dan Savage, who has been spearheading a national letter writing campaign to the administrators of McMillen's school board. Join Constance's Facebook support group, which currently has over 320K members.

04-05-2010, 08:54 PM	#47
Nat Senior Member How Do You Identify?: bigender Preferred Pronoun?: whatevs Relationship Status: in a relationship Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Tx Posts: 3,535 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 11,042 Thanked 13,992 Times in 2,594 Posts Rep Power: 21474854	the "alternative" prom organized to replace the prom cancelled at Itawamba High School was a decoy for the "outcasts" like Constance McMillen while the "cool straight kids" prom was held elsewhere link __________________ I'm a fountain of blood. In the shape of a girl. - Bjork What is to give light must endure burning. -Viktor Frankl

04-21-2010, 01:20 PM	#52
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	Via JoeMyGod: ACLU Sues Over Decoy Prom The ACLU has filed amended their lawsuit against lesbian teen Constance McMillan's Mississippi school district to include charges of conspiring with parents to lure Constance to a "decoy prom" while most students attended a much larger event in another town. Via press release: On March 23, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi issued a preliminary ruling in McMillen’s case that school officials violated McMillen’s First Amendment rights when it canceled the high school prom rather than let McMillen attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. The court stopped short of ordering Itawamba Agricultural High School (IAHS) to put the school prom back on the calendar relying on assurances that an alternative “private” prom being planned by parents would be open to all students, including McMillen. However, according to legal papers, at a meeting with school officials, parents then decided to cancel that private prom without notifying McMillen because they did not want to allow McMillen to attend, instead organizing a “decoy” prom for McMillen and her date and still another prom for the rest of the class. McMillen and her date then attended the event the school had told her was “the prom for juniors and seniors” on April 2, where they found only seven other students attending. Principal Trae Wiygul and several school staff members were supervising that event while most of McMillen’s classmates were at the other prom in Evergreen, Mississippi. The amended complaint against the school district notes that Constance has been ostracized, humiliated, and subjected to text message taunts such as "I don’t know why you come to this school because no one likes your gay ass anyways."

04-23-2010, 10:28 PM	#53
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	Westboro Baptist Church To Picket Constance McMillen's Graduation Via JoeMyGod: Westboro Baptist Church has announced on their website (NFSW) that they will be picketing the graduation ceremony of Constance McMillen's high school in Mississippi. WBC will picket the graduation of Itawamba Agricultural High School to remind the parents, teachers and students of this nation that God said "Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind, it is abomination." Leviticus 18:22. This generation has been raised to believe that they can live for the devil and still go to heaven, that God has no standards and the biggest lie of all - that God loves everyone. The parents of Fulton, MS feign outrage that a filthy dyke wants to parade her "girlfriend" around at their night of fornication called a prom. They had a duty to teach their children what the Lord requires of them. They shirked this duty. The Lord repays them to their face by sending dykes, burning in their lusts, to tyrannize them. "For this cause God gave them up to vile affections: for even their women did change their natural use which is is against nature." Romans 1:26 While we've seen many moving examples of young people protesting the presence of Westboro, it will be very interesting to see how the people of Constance's hometown react to this. Encouragingly, a Facebook group against the picket has already appeared.

07-20-2010, 09:10 AM	#56
suebee Member How Do You Identify?: TOWANDA! Preferred Pronoun?: Queen Bee Relationship Status: Good 'n married. Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Eastern Canada. But if I make a wrong turn at the lights I get stopped by a border guard. Posts: 1,499 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 2,355 Thanked 2,759 Times in 820 Posts Rep Power: 16450091	While it's a shame Constance couldn't go to a typical prom as HERSELF, which is obviously what she wanted to do, the reverberations from her courage will surely have positive effects. And I'm sure it will mold her into an adult who is enriched, rather than impoverished by her experiences. Constance is a force to be reckoned with. Shame on the so-called "educators" who schemed to take her last real highschool experience away from her. I think it backfired on them, don't you? __________________ "Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind." -Albert Schweitzer

03-15-2010, 03:27 PM	#41
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	Hey Lesbians, Did You Take a Girl to the Dance/Prom? We Want Your Photos! A Mississippi school would rather shut down prom than invite a cute lesbian couple. Well, that’s nonsense! Let’s get visible, lesbian/bisexuals/queers/etc. Autostraddle wants your cute same-sex prom/fancypants/homecoming photos. You could even win a prize! So this girl Constance McMillen wanted to take a girl to prom, and wear a tux, and the principal was like hell to the no, and then the ACLU got involved, and then the school just decided it would be better to cancel prom altogether. Why are they so afraid of how cute girls look in menswear? No but srsly. We have a feeling, even though we are old, that some girls are bringing girls to homecoming/prom/fancy-wear day dances these days. Amirite? Are you one of those girls/boys? Well let’s celebrate those photos everyone is so fcking afraid of! VISIBILITY, LADIES! Send us your prom photos GALLERY*

03-23-2010, 03:47 PM	#43
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	Judge won't force Miss. district to hold prom AP JACKSON, Miss. – A Mississippi school district violated a lesbian student's rights by banning her from bringing her girlfriend to the prom, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, but he stopped short of forcing the district to hold the event. U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson denied an American Civil Liberties Union request for a preliminary injunction that would have forced the Itawamba County school district to sponsor the April 2 prom and allow Constance McMillen to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. Davidson did say he will hold a trial on the issue later, but he did not set a date and any ruling would likely come too late to force the district to hold the prom when it was originally scheduled. Davidson's order says the district violated McMillen's constitutional rights by denying her request to bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo, and ACLU Mississippi legal director Kristy Bennett called that a victory. She said Davidson's order allows McMillen to amend her petition within 30 days, meaning she could sue for damages because she couldn't get the prom reinstated. Davidson said he denied the injunction request because a private prom parents are planning will serve the same purpose as the school prom. He wrote in his ruling that "requiring defendants to step back into a sponsorship role at this late date would only confuse and confound the community on the issue." School officials said in court they decided to call off the prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School because McMillen's challenge to the rules had caused disruptions. Ben Griffith, the school district's attorney, said his clients were pleased with Davidson's ruling. McMillen first approached school officials about bringing her girlfriend in December, and again in February. Same-sex prom dates had been banned in the past, but she had hoped school officials would grant her request. "I thought maybe the policy had been in place for a different reason," McMillen testified at a hearing on the ACLU lawsuit. "I wanted to let them know how it made me feel. I felt like I couldn't go to the prom." She was told two girls couldn't attend the prom together and she wouldn't be allowed to wear a tuxedo, court documents show. The ACLU issued a demand letter earlier this month and the district responded by canceling the event. District officials said they felt not hosting the prom was the best decision "after taking into consideration the education, safety and well being of our students." Superintendent Teresa McNeece said it was "a no-win situation." The 715-student high school is located in Fulton, a town of about 4,000 in rural, north Mississippi. The entire county school district has 3,588 students. McMillen, who lives with her grandmother and has a 3.8 grade point average, has kept her 16-year-old girlfriend out of the spotlight at the request of the girl's parents. Her case has become a cause celebre since the school district canceled the prom March 10. She has appeared on the "The Early Show," "The Wanda Sykes Show" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about how she is fighting for tolerance. DeGeneres presented her with a $30,000 college scholarship from Tonic, a digital media company. A Facebook page set up by the ACLU for McMillen has over 400,000 fans. The teen has said repeatedly that gay students should have the same rights as the their straight counterparts, and while she has been praised on the national scene, her words mean little to some in Fulton. McMillen said she encountered "hostility" from students who blamed her for the prom's cancellation. Days after the district announced it would not host the prom, local townsfolk posted signs on the high school reading "What happened to the Bible Belt?" and "Why would we condone this?"

03-25-2010, 02:11 PM	#45
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	Trans Student Suspended from Same School in Mississippi That Canceled Prom, Later Hounded Out of Town

03-25-2010, 02:24 PM	#46
SuperFemme Timed Out How Do You Identify?: Permanently Banned 10/24/2010 Preferred Pronoun?: She. Relationship Status: Married (one of 18,000) Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Atascadero, CA Posts: 4,933 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 2,309 Thanked 7,109 Times in 2,327 Posts Rep Power: 0	Oh for fucks sake. This breaks my heart even more. What kind of world do we live in?

04-13-2010, 03:11 PM	#48
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	CONSTANCE MCMILLEN TO MAKE FIRST PRIDE APPEARANCE & SERVE AS GRAND MARSHAL OF THE 41st ANNUAL NYC LGBT PRIDE MARCH NYC Pride March

04-18-2010, 06:53 AM	#49
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	Why We Need to Keep High School Prom for Heterosexuals

04-19-2010, 04:24 PM	#50
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	Bleckley prom goes smoothly

06-21-2010, 05:28 PM	#54
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	Lesbian teen looks to life after controversy ACKSON, Miss. — Constance McMillen started the month graduating from a strange high school in tears. She will end it meeting President Obama, attending a benefit concert with pop legend Ronnie Spector and marching in a New York City parade. It's been that kind of year for the openly gay 18-year-old who made national news when her Fulton, Miss., high school canceled its prom after she asked to bring her girlfriend. McMillen will attend a White House reception Tuesday for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens from around the nation in recognition of gay pride month.

07-20-2010, 08:45 AM	#55
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	SCORE: Constance McMillen's Old High School Pays Up $35k, Creates Non-Discrimination Policy Itawamba County School District, which refused to let Constance McMillen attend her own high school prom, and then allegedly aided in creating a separate private prom that Constance wasn't invited to, is settling charges filed against it by Constance and the ACLU, according to a release. Constance will receive $35k in damages and attorneys fees while Itawamba will institute a non-discrimination policy that includes sexuality orientation and gender identity — the first school, notes the ACLU, to do so in Mississippi. Technically, this falls into the "win" column: Constance succeeded in having her school confess its sins and pay her for failing one of its students (though really, it failed all of its students). And while Constance did manage to graduate from another high school a tad more accepting, and did get to dance at a number of proms, and did get to serve as grand marshal in gay pride parades, and did become a beacon of hope for all queer teens, she was also a high school senior victimized by her own school, and that's never something to be happy about. Read more: http://www.queerty.com/score-constan...#ixzz0uEZO0LyT

10-08-2010, 10:11 AM	#57
Soon Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: femme Relationship Status: attached Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: . Posts: 6,896 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 29,046 Thanked 13,118 Times in 3,391 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	ABC Family Developing Film With Craig Zadan And Neil Meron About Lesbian Teen Who Was Banned From Prom EXCLUSIVE: The topic of gay teen bullying has dominated the media lately with news reports of five teen boys taking their lives last month alone after being harassed because of their sexual orientation. One of the rare cases where the bullying led to a happy ending -- the story of rural Mississipi lesbian high school student Constance McMillen who successfully sued the local school district for discrimination -- will become a TV movie for ABC Family. The project, in early stages of development, hails from Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and Sony Pictures TV who have optioned the rights to McMillen’s story. Ghost Whisperer creator/executive producer John Gray will write the script and is expected to direct. In March, McMillen challenged the Itawamba County School District when it barred her from attending her prom because she wanted to bring her girlfriend as her date and wear a tuxedo. The district responded by canceling the prom, prompting the ACLU to file a lawsuit claiming the teen's rights had been violated. The flap led to a backlash by many of McMillen’s friends, their parents and the school board who turned against her. Because of the constant harassment, she had to pull out of her Itawamba Agricultural High School and finished her senior year at a school in Jackson, Miss. But McMillen's case quickly drew nationwide attention and she ended up receiving a $30,000 scholarship from Ellen DeGeneres, serving as a grand marshal for New York's Gay Pride Parade and attending a reception at the White House hosted by President Barack Obama. She also recently won a $35,000 settlement in the lawsuit against her school district, with the district agreeing to follow a non-discrimination policy. Openly-gay producers Zadan and Meron, currently shepherding the Footloose feature remake, have a track record of producing socially-conscious movies about gays. They won GLAAD Media Awards for Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story and for What Makes A Family. Both films were produced by Sony TV under EVP Helen Verno and co-produced with Barbra Streisand. Zadan, Meron and Sony took a lighter approach to the subject with Wedding Wars, the first film about gay marriage. Meanwhile, ABC Family was noted in GLAAD’s annual TV report last week for increasing the number of LGBT characters on its shows. Gray previously collaborated with Zadan, Meron and Sony on the telefilms Brian's Song and Martin & Lewis. His feature White Irish Drinkers recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. As for the aftermath of the recent tragic gay teen suicides, Hollywood has been at the forefront of the fight against discrimination and abuse, with a number of gay celebrities taping videos in support of gay students.