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JACKSON, Miss. — A northern Mississippi school district decided Wednesday not to host a high school prom after a lesbian student demanded she be able to attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.
The Itawamba County school district's policy requires that senior prom dates be of the opposite sex. The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi had given the district until Wednesday to change that policy and allow 18-year-old Constance McMillen to escort her girlfriend, who is also a student, to the dance on April 2.
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."
The ACLU said a school policy banning same-sex prom dates violated McMillen's constitutional rights.
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."
Bennett said she wouldn't allow McMillen to comment on Wednesday, saying "she's still trying to process" the district's actions. Calls to McMillen's cell phone went unanswered.
Story continues below


Itawamba County is a rural area of about 23,000 people in north Mississippi near the Alabama state line. It borders 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."


Opinions?

Proms shouldn't exist in the first place, therefore I can't sympathize.

Instead of bitching to the ACLU about it, she should have gotten creative and held an alt. prom instead.

Sorry, schools have rules. It doesn't matter how stupid they are, they should be followed.
I remember when I was still in school... the Anime Club got in trouble once because a lot of the female members brought Yaoi in a lot. Well, someone found out and it got banned from the school.

The funny thing is... I bet they do absolutely nothing to stop her and her GF from groping each other out in the halls.

But, hey, if they can both abide by the rules and wear dresses and not arrive together then they could both enjoy the prom.
Though, the really funny thing is is that... a lot of the time friends will arrive to a dance or something together. It's not uncommon for two friends to dance together either.

So really, this whole thing could have been pretty easily avoided by just wearing a dress and not mentioning your a lesbian.

Then, everyone would have been happy.


But seriously... I couldn't care either way. I never went to a prom and I'll never be going to one and I probably won't be letting any of my children go to one either and God only knows how many boys I'm going to have to "take care of" if they dare try to ask my sister to the prom.
I hate dances altogether so I don't give a flying rats ass what the hell they end up doing.

Oh, and, yay - it was canceled~

I half agree with Marietta... I hate prom and all dances. I went to my senior prom, most boring night of my life. Stupid people doing stupid shit.


That being said, I don't think it's right to cancel a prom because of lesbians.... That seems just.. stupid. For all of the work they had to do to get the prom up and going, they just cancel it.... that's a huge blow to a lot of people.

I don't think the prom should be cancelled just because two girls want to go together. I mean, I know that area of the world is very Conservative Evangelical Protestant but we do live in the 21st Century and that just because you believe something, it shouldn't mean that if one person doesn't agree, you should ruin things for everyone else. I bet all the other kids were really looking forward to that night and are now either blaming Miss McMillen or the school board.

As for wanting to wear a tux, rules are rules in my opinion. If the dress code says boys in a tux, girls in a dress, that's what you should wear. Having all the girls in dresses would look a lot smarter than having most of the girls in dresses, and one in a tux.

I think that prom nights are just a bit of harmless fun really where everyone gets together and have a good night to celebrate the end of school. It's a chance to dress up smart and look your best in front of everyone instead of being in crumby school uniform and a date is just someone you turn up with, nothing more.

Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple.
~
The truth is out there...anybody got the URL?
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Don't forget to be awesome.

Rules are made to be broken. Didn't your parents talk with you about that?


But I don't think school should decided how you dress.
Good thing, my high school wasn't religious and really open about everything. One of my lesbian friend went to prom in a tux and it was alright. There shouldn't be any rule about how you should dress. No every girl feels confortable wearing a dress. And as you said, it is a night to have fun,, so why should there be all those rules?

I went to my prom with normal black pants, converse and a t-shirt with only the tux's jacket.

They should not have cancelled the prom, but i think the whole her asking to wear a tux was really stupid, its as if she wanted to annoy the school on purpose.
As for prom in general, its a bit of fun, if people dont want to go they dont have to.

♥. Just another day like any other,
Nothing in the sky said run for cover,
There was no parade,
No lights flashing,
No songs to sing along the way. ♥

Sorry to bump but the courts ruled that Ms. McMillen’s constitutional rights had been violated. The bans on same sex couple and wearing a tux have been overruled. The school has not been ordered to restore the prom because the parents have organised one but it's progress.

[SPOILER]
Right of Passage
Published: March 29, 2010

A Mississippi school board was grossly discriminatory and mean-spirited when it told Constance McMillen that she could not attend her high school prom with her girlfriend. A ruling by a federal judge that Ms. McMillen’s constitutional rights had been violated is a welcome sign that gay people are continuing to make progress toward equality. It should also be a warning to school districts nationwide about the cost of discrimination.

Ms. McMillen, a senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School, has identified herself as a lesbian since the eighth grade. After the school learned that she was planning to take her girlfriend to the prom, it told her that the two could attend alone or with male dates but not as a couple. When Ms. McMillen asked if she could wear a tuxedo, she was told that she would have to wear a dress.

The American Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter protesting those decisions and the district responded by canceling the prom. It was a move that called to mind the school districts across the South that canceled their proms during the civil rights era rather than open them to black and white students on an equal basis. The A.C.L.U. sued on Ms. McMillen’s behalf.

The north Mississippi courtroom of Judge Glen H. Davidson, a former Tupelo city prosecutor named to the bench by Ronald Reagan, might not seem like the most hospitable forum for Ms. McMillen. But Judge Davidson ruled last week that the First Amendment right of self-expression is denied when students are prohibited from attending the prom with a same-sex date. Similarly, he said, Ms. McMillen’s right to communicate a message — that women should not be required to wear traditionally female clothing — was infringed when she was prohibited from wearing a tuxedo.

Judge Davidson did not order the school to restore the prom because parents are expected to hold one that Ms. McMillen and her girlfriend will be able to attend. As a result of the ruling, the school district may be liable for damages for violating Ms. McMillen’s rights, and for attorneys’ fees. The school’s treatment of Ms. McMillen was horrible, but she and gay and lesbian students everywhere have emerged from this battle as the clear winners.[/SPOILER]

Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple.
~
The truth is out there...anybody got the URL?
~
Don't forget to be awesome.

Why?

She's not supposed to be put in a situation where she has to host her own event to begin with.

You may be completely submissive, but the idea is for the people to have a say. We're looking to change the bad in this day and age. These specific rules are ridiculous. Allowing them to remain or go on without resistance is even more ridiculous.

Yeah, only that's completely different and entirely irrelevant, unless you're trying to establish that schools have near absolute power, which we already knew.

If that's how they treat straight couples, then that's the way it should be.

Why should they be forbidden to attend prom as a couple? Because a few small minded, ignorant bigots don't approve of lesbian relationships? Yeah, right...

It should NOT be avoided, and I'm glad it wasn't.

Everyone? You mean the morons who shut it down.

Your submissive and slightly bigoted opinion is based on your hatred for dances?

I would say for the student to sue the school board. She was asserting her rights and that dance should not have been canceled just because her date would have been of the same sex.

I don't totally like dances and stuff but if I go and hang out with friends, I could live with it.

Image by Roxas

I have to ask. Why can't your sister go to the prom? Are you in charge of her?
Also, why can't your kids go to prom? Just because YOU don't like them? That's awfully narcissistic. And finally, what's so bad about proms?

Other than that i agree with all your statements! She should have just never mentioned she was a lesbian and all would have been fine.