Lesbian
student Constance McMillen stopped from escorting girlfriend to prom
March 22, 2010
A lesbian, 18, whose school
cancelled its annual prom to prevent her from turning up with her girlfriend
and wearing a tuxedo, will today head to court to try to force education
officials to reinstate the dance.
Constance McMillen is
seeking an injunction against the Itawamba County School District in
Mississippi, accusing it of violating her constitutional right to freedom of
expression.
School officials had ruled
that she could go to the prom with her same-sex partner but that they could not
arrive together, hold hands, kiss or slow-dance because it might “push people’s
buttons” and that both must wear dresses. When she refused to accept their
conditions and set lawyers on the case, they cancelled the event.
“We could go but not like
as a date,” Miss McMillen said in an interview on the Ellen DeGeneres Show
on Friday. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to go to prom and pretend I’m not gay.”
Miss
McMillen has been shunned and abused by fellow students at Itawamba
Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi, a conservative community
within America’s Bible Belt. They blame her for the officials’ decision to
cancel. One girl told her: “Thanks for ruining my senior year.”
Miss McMillen, who has the support of her parents, was forced to leave
school early the day after the prom was scrapped due to what her father
described as a “hostile environment”. Deepening the divide, parents of other
students have now organised a private prom to which Miss McMillen has not been
invited. She said: “There’s a few people that are supportive but the majority
of people are angry because I guess they feel I’m the one that caused the prom
to get cancelled.”
She has been applauded by many outside her home area who commend her for
taking a stand against discrimination, and being a cause célèbre for the
gay community.
Tonic.com, a website that dedicates itself to “promoting the good that
happens in the world each day”, has given her $30,000 (£20,000) towards a
college education, and the American Civil Liberties Union has thrown its weight
behind her cause.
“In this day and age, situations like this should not be tolerated,”
said Kristy Bennett, legal director for the ACLU in Mississippi. “Just because
people are different doesn’t mean they are any less. Constance wants to make
change.”
Proms — formal dances that typically draw boys in tuxedos and girls in
ball gowns — are considered a rite of passage for high school students in
America. Itawamba school officials have accused Miss McMillen of trying to
hijack tradition and turn her prom into a platform for “a national
constitutional argument over gay rights”.
Miss McMillen, who spent the weekend at a gay convention in Washington
DC before returning to Mississippi, said: “I just want to go to the prom that
I’ve been looking forward to ever since I’ve known what a prom was.”
Long march to equality
1924 The Society for Human Rights, the first
American gay rights association, is founded in Chicago
1962 Illinois becomes the first state to
decriminalise gay sex
1973 The American Psychiatric Association takes
homosexuality off its list of mental disorders
1977 Harvey Milk becomes the first openly gay man to
win public office in California. He is murdered 11 months later
1979 First national gay rights march on Washington
DC
1993 President Clinton introduces “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell”, allowing gays to serve in the military on condition they keep their
sexuality a secret
2004 Massachusetts becomes the first state to allow
same-sex marriages. It is followed by New Hampshire, Iowa, Vermont and
Connecticut. Gay marriage is briefly recognised in California before being
overturned by Proposition 8 in 2008