Lesbian High School Student Constance McMillen Gets $35,000 Settlement For Canceled Prom

JACKSON, Miss. (Associated Press) — 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 districts 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."

Comments

[commentator101]

12:27 AM on 08/16/2010

Doubtless the Itawamba County throwbacks remain confident their fundie-based beknightment is righteous in God's eyes. But they had better hope their faith is wrong and their is no God, or else I'm certain they will be surprised - and chagrined - by what God REALLY thinks when they go to meet him.

I.e., if there ARE pearly gates, they'll be closed to their ilk.

[only livin boy in NY]

03:51 PM on 08/03/2010

dang i shoulda come out sooner

[Godweiser]

01:13 PM on 08/01/2010

Homophobia is for weak people that can't master themselves enough to put something that has nothing to do with them out of their mind. It's when someone goes around and sees something they don't like and decides to have a mental breakdown on the basis of it, insisting that it's everyone else's responsibility.

Perfectly well adjusted heterosexuals are not homophobes. It's the people with doubts and issues that inevitably are; if you are out in public and you see two guys holding hands or two women kissing and give it more than second's thought and then proceed to act as if you've been imposed upon (especially if your mate is there sagging out of their speedo or bikini, I've seen some of you at the beach) then you really have a problem, but it's your problem and you have a responsibility to control your thoughts or control your reactions to it.

That's the hard line, but there it is. I don't go around worrying about gay people; in fact, I'd rather have a gay person as a neighbor (heck, maybe I do, I don't check sexuality when they move in) than some holy roller bigot with deep-rooted issues and such small willpower that they spazz out at the sight of something so innocuous. Of course, I'd rather have an illegal immigrant as a neighbor than a racist, too. But that's another debate.

My message to America is simple: Learn to suck it up in the name of tolerance kids.

[Aerows]

12:58 PM on 08/01/2010

Finally a story out of my home state of MS that is empowering. This young woman has courage, and it is good to see courage be rewarded.

As another lesbian in MS, I salute you, Constance. Best wishes for you and your future.

[Godweiser]

01:04 PM on 08/01/2010

I've been paying attention to this story, I'm glad she managed to show them up. Of course, the administrators that put everyone up to this by holding the school's prom hostage and essentially waged a guerrilla war against a teenager girl are still employed.

They ceded any claim they had to setting a standard for their students to follow when they decided to abandon their mandate as educators and used the powers of their positions (with no regard to their responsibilities) to discriminate against a 17 year old girl.

Of course, if that town wants to continue to have these...people...miseducating their kids, I suppose that's just another sad story in Southern education.

[Aerows]

01:19 PM on 08/01/2010

I agree with you, but it takes people like her with the courage to stand up for themselves to change attitudes.

Being out takes guts, especially in the face of discrimination. It is worth it, though, because you can look yourself in the mirror every morning.

[Quiv]

09:44 PM on 07/21/2010

I love this teenage who stood up for herself and her right to be treated equally under the law, that's why we live in America and not Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Afganistan! I couldn't be prouder if I were her parent. Way to go girl! You fought the good fight and WON!

[OBroadhurst]

02:36 PM on 07/21/2010

Unfortunately, methinks the school board shall fail to learn from this.

[ccurtis]

07:40 PM on 07/21/2010

You are probably right, however, at least her college is now paid for and she seems like the kind of kid who will do very well.

[vulpecula762mm]

12:42 PM on 07/21/2010

"I believe we are all blessed by Jah, regardless of color or opinion, jungle world, Ethiopia, one love, I believe".......

Soul Slinger

[RasputinsLiver]

11:49 AM on 07/21/2010

Wow...

...HP even went so far as to remove this article! What's up with that?

[Jdaddy1951]

12:33 PM on 07/21/2010

Um... It's still here, isn't it?

[marsjo]

12:55 PM on 07/21/2010

I think you have to allow for layout changes. After all it does take a moment or two for a human hand to shift the cut and paste block.

[Jdaddy1951]

01:02 PM on 07/21/2010

There's been some peculiar stuff going on here with this article this morning. I spent about an hour trying to post a rebuttal to a guy who made a comment about Constance McMillen's weight --- an absolutely inappropriate and mean-spirited thing for him to say. I could not get my rebuttal post to appear. I think what was happening is that maybe the moderators were reviewing the other guy's comment and that prevented any responses to it from being posted.

In any case, I don't see his comment here any more, so the moderators must have agreed with me and anyone else that it was not a very nice thing for him to make fun of the appearance of a girl who already experienced discrimination because of her sexual orientation.

[SouthernJewel]

11:21 AM on 07/21/2010

Must See Documentary, Prom Night In Mississippi
http://www.promnightinmississippi.com/
Mississippi School Holds First Interracial Prom
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91371629

Mississippi integrated its public schools in 1970, but segregation still haunts parts of the culture. One example of this could be found at Charleston High School. The Delta town had maintained a system of separate proms — organized privately — for black and white students.

As far back as 1997, actor Morgan Freeman, a Charleston local, offered to pay for the dance if everyone could go. This year, officials finally accepted the offer. A Canadian film crew led by Paul Saltzman documented the event for the upcoming Prom Night in Mississippi.

Morgan Freeman did a good thing funding the prom.
This documentary is an example of how children are a product of the environment in which they are raised. As a society, we need to keep move forward with respect for each and every person.

[JonB2057]

11:57 AM on 08/22/2010

What's the point?

[nhunter]

11:01 AM on 07/21/2010

News like this makes me proud to be an ACLU member, or at least I was before I lost my job. I'm working again now, so I should re-up.

[Zigman61]

11:00 AM on 07/21/2010

Wait a minute......First, "LoveEndures".....who is to say what is truly "normal" vs "abnormal" ? Your imaginary Guy in the Sky should not be judging. Nor will he fly down from the skies and save the world.....or perish it for that matter. Man will do that just fine all by himself.

I say bravo to this young woman! She had the courage to stand up for what is fair and just. I'm sure she will do well in life. It is always going to be more or less a 'he said/she said' kind of thing with the gay/lesbian way of life. One either says it's okay or not. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground. And there should be. Where does anyone get the right to judge someone else and tell them they are wrong? Wrong as compared to what/whom? Your own personal opinion? I think not. You cannot judge me if you do not know me. Same thing holds true for Constance McMillan. We do not personally know her. I wish her well.

[Leadsled]

04:39 PM on 07/21/2010

Zigman I agree with your general point however you are incorrect on one issue what is truly "normal" or "abnormal" is for anyone who understands the english language meanings of these two terms. Normal would be common, typical, what is the case for the plurality of people. Abnormal would be anything different from that. Homosexuals and self-identifying bisexuals, by the rough estimates I have seen account for roughly 10% of the population, with self-identifying heterosexuals being the vast majority of the population. As such, WITHOUT MAKING ANY NORMATIVE JUDGMENTS AT ALL, purely descriptively, heterosexuality is the "normal" condition with bisexuality and homosexuality and any other "_sexuality" being abnormal, PURELY based upon the fact that they are atypical and uncommon.

Fighting the good fight in favor of equal rights and treatment is one thing. Torturing the english language in order to make a completely irrelevant semantic point based on weird perceptions of meaning held by PC police types is another thing entirely. Lets concentrate on the real fight, not whether we accurately label homosexuals as people with an abnormal sexual preference.

[eudaimoniac]

04:13 PM on 08/03/2010

The English language is far from being "tortured" at the expense of not referring to children as '"abnormal", it has hyperbole for that.

And aside from the absurdity of concluding a rant on the correct definitional use of a term with a remonstration on making irrelevant semantic points, "abnormal" is not an apt adjective for all that falls outside of "what is the case for a plurality of people". Blue eyes, for example, are exhibited in roughly 16% percent of the American population, a marked minority, and yet it would be considered unanimously ridiculous to describe a pair of baby blues as 'abnormal" such as you have done with homosexuality.

What is normal, is the wide variety with what, whom, and how people self-identity; homosexuality being a perfectly normal expression of orientation and preference.

[ColinZeal2]

10:56 AM on 07/21/2010

So, America is being dragged kicking and screaming to the 21st century. That's good.

[DevonTexas]

10:55 AM on 07/21/2010

FANTASTIC! Great news! When it costs too much to discriminate, discrimination will end!

[CaroleK1970]

10:50 AM on 07/21/2010

its really amazing that the people who discriminate usually base it on a 'religion' that is supposed to be about acceptance and non judgement. the sad thing about ignorance is those who are most ignorant are ignorant of this fact

[Jdaddy1951]

01:05 PM on 07/21/2010

As I've said several times here --- homophobia should be classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association, just like the APA used to classify homosexuality as a mental illness. The APA has obviously learned that sexual orientation is something people are born with. Homophobia is obviously learned behavior and hopefully, a cure can be found for it, through counseling, or in extreme cases, shock therapy. I don't hate the homophobes, I just hate their mental illness that makes them think they have the right to bully people into believing the same things that they believe. Poor things, bless their hearts.

[CaroleK1970]

02:32 PM on 07/21/2010

wow what an excellent point! That will be my new talking point on homophobia, its a mental disorder, love it!

[unimatrix0]

04:07 PM on 07/21/2010

let's try immersion therapy

[WindySailor]

10:21 AM on 07/21/2010

Take the money and throw a party!

[DevonTexas]

10:57 AM on 07/21/2010

or pay for college.

[Ken Brucker]

11:01 AM on 07/21/2010

I was thinking that Constance could use her part of the settlement and put it towards a college or vocational education.