A rural school district that canceled its prom rather than allow a lesbian student to attend with her girlfriend has agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit the ACLU filed on her behalf.
The district also agreed to follow a non-discrimination policy as part of the settlement, though it argues such a policy was already in place.
Constance McMillen, 18, said the victory came at the price of her being shunned in her small hometown of Fulton.
“I knew it was a good cause, but sometimes it really got to me. I knew it would change things for others in the future and I kept going and I kept pushing,” McMillen said in an interview Tuesday.
The flap started in March when McMillen challenged the Itawamba County School District’s rules banning prom dates of the same gender and allowing only male students to wear tuxedos. The district responded by canceling its prom, prompting the ACLU to file suit claiming the teen’s rights had been violated and demanding the prom be reinstated.
U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson refused to make school officials hold the prom, but he said in a March 23 ruling that the district had violated McMillen’s rights.
The district later announced parents would sponsor another prom chaperoned by school officials. But ACLU lawyers claimed the event was a “sham prom” attended by only about 10 students, while most of McMillen’s classmates partied at a private event elsewhere, a claim the school denied. McMillen’s suit also says she’s been harassed for her stand against the school’s policy.
McMillen’s lawyers filed notice Monday in U.S. District Court to accept a judgment offer from the Itawamba County School District that will pay $35,000, plus attorney’s fees. As part of the agreement, the school district also said it would follow a policy not to discriminate based on sexual orientation in any educational or extracurricular activities or allow harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
School officials contend that their agreement to follow the non-discrimination policy merely reaffirms inclusiveness rules the district already had, said school board attorney Michele Floyd. She said the district’s insurance company will pay McMillen.
District officials said in the settlement offer that they didn’t believe they violated McMillen’s rights.
The ACLU, however, contends that if the district really had such an inclusiveness policy all along, it wouldn’t have banned same-sex prom dates. It also said the district is the first in Mississippi to implement a policy banning discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Ben Griffith, the attorney who represented the district in the suit, said school officials are focused on preparing for the upcoming fall semester and wanted to avoid protracted litigation.
“The defendants have consistently taken the position throughout this case that their actions and conduct at all times have been constitutional and lawful in every respect,” Griffith said.
Christine P. Sun, an ACLU lawyer, said the case has “inspired countless other people around the world to stand up for what’s right.”
McMillen has moved to Memphis, Tenn., where she plans to attend Southwest Community College in the spring, majoring in psychology. She said she’ll use the settlement money for her college education.
She eventually withdrew from Itawamba Agricultural High School and finished her senior year at a school in Jackson, Miss.
Eliza Byard, executive director of GLSEN: The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, said only 12 states and the District of Columbia require school district to have policies recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity.
McMillen’s case gained national attention and she was featured on talk shows and served as a grand marshal for New York’s Gay Pride Parade, among other events. She also visited the White House.
Sun said the ACLU had represented other students in similar cases around the country, but none had garnered as much attention as McMillen’s legal battle.
McMillen said she thinks the case resonated with so many people because “prom is a common theme and everyone knows how it feels to want to go to prom. With my story, even if people didn’t agree with being gay, they understood. They figured out how cruel some people can be.”
A lesbian high school student is getting a second chance to don a tuxedo and dance after she sued her Mississippi school over a ban on same-sex prom dates.
Constance McMillen plans to attend an anniversary soiree held by the the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco on May 1. NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell said the event is often referred to as the “lesbian prom.” The advocacy group is paying for McMillen’s travel.
Last week, a private prom was held to replace one the Itawamba County school district canceled rather than let McMillen wear a tuxedo and bring her girlfriend. McMillen was among seven students who showed up. She says the rest of her schoolmates partied at another location and she was disappointed.
The prom’s still off at a Mississippi high school that canceled it instead of letting a lesbian student bring her girlfriend, but a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the district’s actions did violate the teen’s constitutional rights.
U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson refused the American Civil Liberties Union’s demand to force the Itawamba County school district to put on the April 2 prom. However, he said canceling it did violate 18-year-old Constance McMillen’s rights and that he would hold a trial on the issue.
That would come too late for the prom to be salvaged at Itawamba Agricultural High School. Still, Kristy Bennett, ACLU Mississippi legal director, called the decision a victory.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the district to force it to put on the prom and allow McMillen to bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. School officials said in U.S. District Court this week that they decided to cancel it because McMillen’s challenge to the rules had caused disruptions.
The judge noted 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.
As for McMillen, she said she was happy about the ruling but doesn’t know what to expect when she returns to school. She attended classes a day after the March 10 decision to cancel the prom. But she said the hostility and comments from other students led her to miss school. She skipped class on Tuesday to go to the doctor and the fight is taking a toll, she said.
“My nerves are shot,” she said.
District officials said in a statement that they were ready to get back to educating students.
Davidson said 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 isn’t sure if she’ll go to the dance.
“I’m going to school tomorrow (Wednesday) and will get a feel of how everybody feels about me. That will help me make my decision about whether I’m going to the private prom,” McMillen said. “I want to go because all my junior and senior class will be there, but I don’t want to be somewhere I’m not welcomed.”
Ben Griffith, the school district’s attorney, said his clients were pleased with the ruling.
“What we’re looking at now is the fact that the case is still on the docket for a trial on the merits,” Griffith said.
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 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. 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.
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.
The case is typical of what’s happening in schools across the country, said Charles Haynes, senior scholar for The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center.
“This case is different because this is not just dress, it is a higher claim of personal identity,” Haynes said. “I think that if the student prevails in this case, it will send a message to school districts that they need to accommodate students now who are openly gay and lesbian and want to participate in student activities,” Haynes said.
Her case has become a cause celebre.
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.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Mississippi school district violated a lesbian student’s rights by refusing to allow her to bring her girlfriend to the prom, but he said he would not force the school to hold the event.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued in U.S. District Court to force the Itawamba County school district to sponsor the April 2 prom and allow Constance McMillen to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.
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.
U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson denied the ACLU’s request for a preliminary injunction. He said he’ll still hold a trial, but he did not set a date, meaning any ruling would likely come too late to have the prom when it was originally scheduled.
Davidson did say in his order that the district had violated McMillen’s constitutional rights by denying her request to bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.
“We consider this a victory,” said ACLU Mississippi legal director Kristy Bennett.
But Davidson said a private prom parents are now 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.”
Ben Griffith, the school district’s attorney, said his clients were pleased with the ruling.
“What we’re looking at now is the fact that the case is still on the docket for a trial on the merits,” Griffith said.
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?”
An 18-year-old Mississippi lesbian student says she got some unfriendly looks from classmates when she returned to school after officials canceled the senior prom because of her request to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.
Constance McMillen says she didn’t want to go back, but her father told her she needed to face her classmates and school officials in Fulton. McMillen says one student told her, “Thanks for ruining my senior year.”
The Itawamba County school district announced Wednesday it wouldn’t host the April 2 prom at McMillen’s high school.
The decision came after the American Civil Liberties Union told officials a policy banning same-sex prom dates violated students’ rights.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A northern Mississippi school district will not be hosting a high school prom this spring after a lesbian student sought to attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.
The Itawamba County school district’s board decided Wednesday to drop the prom because of what it called recent distractions but without specifically mentioning the girl’s request, which was backed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The student, 18-year-old high school senior Constance McMillen, said the cancellation was retaliation for her efforts to bring her girlfriend, also a student, to the April 2 dance.
“A bunch of kids at school are really going to hate me for this, so in a way it’s really retaliation,” McMillen told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson. Calls to McMillen by The Associated Press late Wednesday went unanswered.
School policy requires that senior prom dates be of the opposite sex. The ACLU of Mississippi had given the district until Wednesday to change that policy, arguing that banning same-sex prom dates violated McMillen’s constitutional rights.
Instead, the school board met and issued a statement announcing it wouldn’t host the event at Itawamba County Agricultural High School in Fulton, “due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events.”
The statement didn’t mention McMillen or the ACLU. When asked by The Associated Press if McMillen’s demand led to the cancellation, school board attorney Michele Floyd said she could only reference the statement.
“It is our hope that private citizens will organize an event for the juniors and seniors,” district officials said in the statement. “However, at this time, we feel that it is in the best interest of the Itawamba County School District, after taking into consideration the education, safety and well being of our students.”
Kristy Bennett, legal director for the ACLU of Mississippi, said the district was trying to avoid the issue.
“But that doesn’t take away their legal obligations to treat all the students fairly,” Bennett said. “On Constance’s behalf, this is unfair to her. All she’s trying to do is assert her rights.”
Itawamba County is a rural area of about 23,000 people in north Mississippi near the Alabama state line. It’s near Pontotoc County, Miss., where more than a decade ago school officials were sued in federal court over their practice of student-led intercom prayer and Bible classes.
Anna Watson, a 17-year-old junior at the high school, was looking forward to the prom, especially since the town’s only hotspot is the bowling alley, she said.
“I am a little bummed out about it. I guess it’s a decision that had to be made. Either way someone was going to get disappointed — either Constance was or we were,” Watson said. “I don’t agree with homosexuality, but I can’t change what another person thinks or does.”
Other students are on McMillen’s side.
McKenzie Chaney, 16, said she wasn’t planning to attend the prom, but “it’s kind of ridiculous that they can’t let her wear the tuxedo and it all be over with.”
A Feb. 5 memo to students laid out the criteria for bringing a date to the prom, and one requirement was that the person must be of the opposite sex.
The ACLU said McMillen approached school officials shortly before the memo went out because she knew same-sex dates had been banned in the past. The ACLU said district officials told McMillen she and her girlfriend wouldn’t be allowed to arrive together, that she would not be allowed to wear a tuxedo, and that she and her girlfriend might be asked to leave if their presence made any other students “uncomfortable.”
McMillen said she feared she would be thrown out of the prom because “we do live in the Bible Belt.”
