All she wanted to do was take her girlfriend to prom, but instead her Mississippi school cancelled prom just to stop her. I’m sure some of you are already familiar with Constance McMillen as her story circulates the major news networks. By doing this the Itawamba County Agricultural High School has violated the law and Constance’s rights. Christine Sun of the American Civil Liberties Union is now representing Constance in a lawsuit against the school. I’m sure they will win – the school’s behavior is something we’d expect from a 3rd world country with no civil rights.
On Facebook you can become a fan of Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom!, which at the time of this writing has over 300,000 supporters! The ACLU offers information about gay and lesbian rights at prom. The ACLU points out “Fricke v. Lynch, a federal court [ruling] that [stated] any policy excluding same-sex couples from proms or school dances violates the right to free expression guaranteed by the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Other decisions have found that enforcing outdated notions that only boys can wear tuxedoes and only girls can wear dresses to Prom is illegal.”
This reminds me of my high school situation in 2005 when I was suspended for a week from Belfast Area High School for wearing a t-shirt that said, “It’s OK to Be Gay.” You can read the article by clicking HERE or visiting my Activism Page. In my case the ACLU also intervened and threatened BAHS with a lawsuit if they didn’t allow me to wear my pride t-shirts and have equal access to school resources for my Gay-Straight Alliance, as required by Federal law. Unfortunately the homophobia and anti-gay harassment continued from both students and teachers, and I transferred to Searsport District High School, graduating that same year. In fact, the superintendents both signed a superintendent’s transfer admitting the grounds for transfer (without tuition costs) was because of student and staff homophobia and harassment. I definitely empathize with you, Constance. Keep up the fight!
