Lesbian Prom Update: Constance McMillen's Rights Violated, But School Doesn't Have to Hold Prom

By: Carlin DeGuerin Miller
Topics: Daily Blotter

Constance McMillen (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

JACKSON, Miss. (CBS/AP) A judge ruled Tuesday that the Itawamba County School District violated Constance McMillen's civil rights when they prohibited her from bringing her lesbian partner and wearing a tux to the senior prom by canceling the prom altogether. But the judge stopped short of requiring the school to put on the April 2 dance.

It's a victory for McMillen, albeit a small one, who in Dec. 2009 asked that the school board allow her to bring a same-sex date to her senior prom despite the previous ban on same-sex prom dates. After a school memo was sent out Feb. 5 outlining restrictions on prom dates, McMillen's second request was denied, prompting the ACLU to send a letter to the district demanding that they allow McMillen to attend with her partner.

The school board responded by canceling the prom.

U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson recognized that McMillen has been openly gay since she was in the eighth grade and that she intended to communicate a message by wearing a tuxedo and escorting a same-sex date.

"The court finds this expression and communication falls squarely within the purview of the First Amendment," Davidson said.

But Davidson did not grant the ACLU's request to force the school district to reinstate the April 2 dance because a private prom parents are planning will serve the same purpose as a school-sponsored one.

He wrote that "requiring defendants to step back into a sponsorship role at this late date would only confuse and confound the community on the issue."

McMillen hasn't decided whether she will attend the privately sponsored prom because of the reaction from her classmates.

"My nerves are shot," she said. "I'm going to school [Wednesday] and will get a feel of how everybody feels about me. That will help me make my decision."

MORE ON CRIMESIDER
March 23, 2010 - Lesbian Prom Update: We'd Been Thinking of Canceling the Prom For, Like, a Million Non-Lesbian Reasons, Says School Board
March 11, 2010 - Constance McMillen Wanted to Take Her Girlfriend to the Prom, So the School Board Canceled it

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by battlebaby8 March 25, 2010 10:17 AM EDT: I'm so upset that the school still doesn't have to throw a prom.
I'm sure that hurt Constance, because I've been following this case strictly and one of the things that she said was that she just wanted to go to the prom that she'd been promised since she was in kindergarten.
There are alternate proms being planned, and I hope that Constance enjoys those, but I wish that she'd have gotten to have her own prom; Reply to this comment


by Brokennews March 24, 2010 3:45 PM EDT: If the school's fat guy had planned wear a sheer teddy 8 sizes too small for him, I wonder if the school would have reacted the same way?; Reply to this comment

by jamessamans March 24, 2010 12:16 PM EDT

Unbelievable. She wanted to wear a tux? That's not okay. Bring whomever as a date, but dress codes exist for decorum, and you express yourself within them. In formal settings, ladies wear gowns -- no matter who they sleep with.

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by x0xBrookersx0x March 24, 2010 2:17 PM EDT: ummm...no..she can wear whatever she feels like wearing. NO ONE can tell her what she can or cannot wear. it's total BS. people are so stupid. GET OVER IT!!

ugh...you make me sick.


by rayangela98 March 24, 2010 3:38 PM EDT: WHY? Who made this rule? Why does everyone have to abide by it? What difference does it make? Does it completely change the structure of the world to wear across gender lines? Just because you or I do not do these things, why is it so wrong for someone else?

I am glad that people like you don't run the country, a bit too control driven for me.