GetEQUAL Youth Send Message To Obama

Clip description: "Ceara Sturgis, Constance McMillen, and Will Phillips share a message with President Obama and Congress, asking them to display the courageousness that these youth have shown by producing the change they have promised."

MISSISSIPPI: Judge Awards $81K To Constance McMillen's Legal Team

A federal judge has ordered a Mississippi school district to pay $81K to the ACLU to cover their expenses and fees on behalf of lesbian teen Constance McMillen, who successfully sued her school for denying her the right to attend her prom with a female date. An earlier ruling awarded $35K to Constance herself, whose life story is being made into a TV movie.

Story Of Prom-Denied Gay Mississippi Teen Constance McMillen To Be TV Movie

The life story of Constance McMillan, the lesbian Mississippi high school student who was banned from her prom, will be made into a television movie.

One of the rare cases where the bullying led to a happy ending -- the story of rural Mississipi lesbian high school student Constance McMillen who successfully sued the local school district for discrimination -- will become a TV movie for ABC Family. The project, in early stages of development, hails from Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and Sony Pictures TV who have optioned the rights to McMillen’s story. Ghost Whisperer creator/executive producer John Gray will write the script and is expected to direct.

The movie's producers have won GLAAD Media Awards for Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story and for What Makes A Family.

MISSISSIPPI: Constance McMillen Wins Prom Suit Against School District

Openly gay Mississippi teen Constance McMillen and the ACLU have triumphed in their lawsuit against the school district that conspired to exclude her from her senior prom.

Constance McMillen will be paid $35,000 plus attorney fees to settle her lawsuit accusing her former school district of discrimination for canceling the senior prom rather than let her attend with her girlfriend. As part of the settlement, the Itawamba County School District also agreed to follow a non-discrimination policy, although officials said such a policy existed in March, when the dispute began. The district does not admit wrongdoing in settling the suit, which was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"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, 18, said in an interview today with the Associated Press. Schools attorney Michelle Floyd noted that the district did not admit wrongdoing by settling the suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. "The Itawamba County School District believes that Constance McMillen's rights under the United States Constitution were not violated by any act, omission, policy, custom or practice of the district," she said in a statement.

In April, Constance and some special needs students were lured to a fake prom while most of the student body celebrated at a secret prom in another location. The ACLU responds to yesterday's ruling:

“Constance went through a great deal of harassment and humiliation simply for standing up for her rights, and she should be proud of what she has accomplished,” said Christine P. Sun, senior counsel with the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project. “Thanks to her bravery, we now not only have a federal court precedent that can be used to protect the rights of students all over the country to bring the date they want to their proms, but we also have the first school anti-discrimination policy of its kind in Mississippi.”

Last month Constance served as Grand Marshall at the NYC Pride March and has appeared at several other gay pride events in similar capacities. Congrats to our heroine!

Constance McMillen Invited To White House LGBT Pride Reception

Lesbian teen Constance McMillen has been invited to join a select group of activists at a White House reception tomorrow to celebrate LGBT Pride Month.

The White House confirmed Friday that Obama will host the event and is expected to deliver brief remarks. After the prom controversy, McMillen said, she faced a hostile environment from her peers and transferred out of her northeast Mississippi school district to a school 200 miles away in Jackson. She said she broke down in tears at the graduation ceremony. "I didn't really want to walk, but I did it for my parents," she said. "My name wasn't on the program." On Friday, McMillen will be the guest of honor at a benefit concert in Woodstock, N.Y., with Spector, best known for her hits with the Ronettes in the early 1960s. The money raised will go toward McMillen's college education and the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project and AIDS Project. Two days later, she will be in New York City as one of the grand marshals in the city's gay pride parade. "I'll never get my senior year back," she said. "But the experiences that I have had because of this have really made it a lot easier. It has really helped me."

The White House hasn't released an official list of the invitees, but according to the Washington Blade, most of those attending will be the leaders of state LGBT activist groups.

Westboro Pickets Constance's Graduation

Mississippi teen Constance McMillen graduated from high school this weekend as Westboro Baptist Church picketed nearby. GetEQUAL sent a contingent to counter-protest.

As part of Harvey Milk Day on Saturday, Get Equal traveled to the South with its Mississippi Dignity Caravan, whose activities began with a rally at the Mississippi state capitol in Jackson. The group then traveled to Fulton, the home of Itawamba High School. McMillen attended IHS before harassment, following her attempt to bring a same-sex date to her prom, forced her to transfer to a school in Jackson. Six members of the Kansas-based Westboro Church, mostly members of the Phelps clan, protested the Saturday graduation of IHS with their typical homophobic Sturm und Drang. “We outnumbered them 60 to 6,” Get Equal reported on its Facebook page. “Two active members of the military even showed up in their uniforms to show their support of the counter-protest. Both said they weren't gay, but wouldn't have a problem if a fellow soldier was.”

Below, GetEQUAL meets with Constance after her ceremony.

Westboro Baptist Church To Picket Constance McMillen's Graduation

Westboro Baptist Church has announced on their website (NFSW) that they will be picketing the graduation ceremony of Constance McMillen's high school in Mississippi.

WBC will picket the graduation of Itawamba Agricultural High School to remind the parents, teachers and students of this nation that God said "Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind, it is abomination." Leviticus 18:22. This generation has been raised to believe that they can live for the devil and still go to heaven, that God has no standards and the biggest lie of all - that God loves everyone. The parents of Fulton, MS feign outrage that a filthy dyke wants to parade her "girlfriend" around at their night of fornication called a prom. They had a duty to teach their children what the Lord requires of them. They shirked this duty. The Lord repays them to their face by sending dykes, burning in their lusts, to tyrannize them. "For this cause God gave them up to vile affections: for even their women did change their natural use which is is against nature." Romans 1:26

While we've seen many moving examples of young people protesting the presence of Westboro, it will be very interesting to see how the people of Constance's hometown react to this. Encouragingly, a Facebook group against the picket has already appeared.

ACLU Sues Over Decoy Prom

The ACLU has amended their lawsuit against lesbian teen Constance McMillan's Mississippi school district to include charges of conspiring with parents to lure Constance to a "decoy prom" while most students attended a much larger event in another town. Via press release:

On March 23, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi issued a preliminary ruling in McMillen’s case that school officials violated McMillen’s First Amendment rights when it canceled the high school prom rather than let McMillen attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. The court stopped short of ordering Itawamba Agricultural High School (IAHS) to put the school prom back on the calendar relying on assurances that an alternative “private” prom being planned by parents would be open to all students, including McMillen. However, according to legal papers, at a meeting with school officials, parents then decided to cancel that private prom without notifying McMillen because they did not want to allow McMillen to attend, instead organizing a “decoy” prom for McMillen and her date and still another prom for the rest of the class. McMillen and her date then attended the event the school had told her was “the prom for juniors and seniors” on April 2, where they found only seven other students attending. Principal Trae Wiygul and several school staff members were supervising that event while most of McMillen’s classmates were at the other prom in Evergreen, Mississippi.

The amended complaint against the school district notes that Constance has been ostracized, humiliated, and subjected to text message taunts such as "I don’t know why you come to this school because no one likes your gay ass anyways."

RELATED: Constance will serve as Grand Marshal in NYC's gay pride parade this June.

Homocons Attack Constance

The douchenozzle Quislings over at Gay Patriot are attacking "the gay left's newest tool," Constance McMillen.

Okay. So have you heard of this story where the high school girl who wanted to attend the prom with her “lesbian girlfriend” (I use the quotes because, really. Call me an old stick-in-the-mud*, but are high-schoolers self-aware enough to realize they’re lesbians already? And even if so, are we encouraging kids that young to identify themselves sexually? What ever happened to the innocence and beauty of youth? Ugh, but anyway.) was duped into arriving at some sham event while the actual prom was being held somewhere else? [snip] Additionally, let’s note that her reaction was to broadcast far and wide to anybody willing to listen that she’d been completely punked and embarrassed through her gullibility in hopes of garnering sympathy, rather than reflecting on how she could have been so credulous. This will likely also find her kindred spirits in the movement.

Since high school kids aren't self-aware enough to know that they're gay, I guess we're all wasting our time trying to protect them from beatings, bullying and torture. And all those homeless gay kids on the streets of NYC? Totally invented by the gay left.

Bryan Safi: On Gays & Proms

Current TV host Bryan Safi tears into the Constance McMillen story.

Constance McMillen Named Grand Marshal Of NYC 2010 Gay Pride Parade

Finally, I can spill what I've known for ten days. Mississippi high school senior Constance McMillen has been named a grand marshal of NYC's gay pride parade.

Constance McMillen, a Mississippi high school honors student who fought back when her school told her she couldn’t take her girlfriend to the prom, has been announced as one of the Grand Marshals for the 41st Annual LGBT Pride March in New York on June 27, 2010. “I never dreamed so many people would support my fight to take my girlfriend to the prom, much less that I’d end up being asked to be a Grand Marshal at NYC Pride,” said McMillen, an 18-year-old high school senior from Fulton, Mississippi, adding, “I’m really honored and touched to be asked to be part of this celebration.” McMillen is the plaintiff in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging her school’s decision to cancel the prom rather than let her bring her girlfriend as her date and wear a tuxedo to the prom.

Joining McMillen as 2010 grand marshals are Lt. Dan Choi and Judy Shepard.

HomoQuotable - Constance McMillen

"OK whoever is targeting my classmates really need to stop. It's cruel and actually there are a lot of people including my girlfriend that have been receiving messages and having hateful things said about them just because they live in Itawamba county. There are alot of supporters that are getting harassed it shames me and actually it is just making me sad. One of my really good friends just showed up to my house crying because something was said about her. She has been supporting me through this and it is not right what yall are doing is not supporting me let ppl talk their shit about me. I dont care but this is more disgusting than what they are doing to me. I have always said to be respectful of people otherwise you dont get your message across. So yall please please if yall support me please stop doing this. Its not helping anything and it is hurting alot of innocent people." - Constance McMillan, posting to the Facebook group Constance, Quit Yer Cryin'.

Sean Chapin - Constant

JMG reader Sean Chapin submits his tribute to Mississippi gay teen Constance McMillen. On May 1st, Constance and her girlfriend will be guests of honor at the 33rd annual National Center for Lesbian Rights Celebration, also known as "the lesbian prom."

Open Thread Thursday

So how did things go at YOUR prom?

IT'S TRUE: Constance Tricked Out Of Prom

Constance McMillen has confirmed that a large fancy secret prom took place across town while she and special needs students attended what they were told was the "official" prom.

"They had two proms and I was only invited to one of them," McMillen says. "The one that I went to had seven people there, and everyone went to the other one I wasn’t invited to." Last week McMillen asked one of the students organizing the prom for details about the event, and was directed to the country club. "It hurts my feelings," McMillen says. Two students with learning difficulties were among the seven people at the country club event, McMillen recalls. "They had the time of their lives," McMillen says. "That's the one good thing that come out of this, [these kids] didn't have to worry about people making fun of them [at their prom]."

The ACLU says they aren't sure if they can take legal action over the deception.

Kristy Bennett, legal director for the ACLU of Mississippi, said her organization was still gathering details about what happened Friday night to determine whether they would ask Davidson for sanctions. At the least, Bennett said the details about Friday’s prom would be used in the organization’s damages suit against the district, which is still being developed. “We are disappointed at the sparse attendance, and we’re looking further into the situation,” Bennett said. “Whatever we find will be brought to the court’s attention, whether it is in the damages trial, or whatever. There will still be a trial on the merits. The case didn’t end in the preliminary hearing.”

UPDATE: At the polite request of a parent, I've removed the photos of the prom.

Did The Haters Secretly Move The Prom So Constance McMillen Wouldn't Find It?

A Mississippi blog is claiming that the alternative prom attended by Constance McMillen was a decoy and that the "real" event was secretly moved to another location. According to the below report, only seven kids showed up at the event Constance was told was the real deal.

The prom the school district promised at the country club in Fulton was a ruse. Only seven kids, Constance, and her date showed, and at the same time, everyone else held a “real” prom at a secret location out in the county. This is all after the school district had represented to Judge Davidson that Constance was invited to a parent-sponsored prom to be held at Tupelo Furniture Market. The school represented that Constance was invited in court filings, testimony, and representations by the school district and its lawyers. In reality, Constance had not been invited, but, based on the representations by the district and its counsel, Judge Davidson denied Constance’s request for a preliminary injunction that she could go to the prom.

The school reneged, or possibly didn’t ever intend to follow through on its representations to the court. The parents didn’t want Constance at the prom and didn’t want to be sued (as they told the Clarion Ledger), and so on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the prom. But what they’d done was secretly relocated it. Shortly thereafter, the school’s attorney announced (on Wednesday) that “the prom” was to be held at the Fulton Country Club on Friday. But yet only seven kids showed up. Meanwhile, there’s a rumor that school officials were directly involved in setting up the “fake” prom.

If true, it's amazing that hundreds of kids were able to keep the location change a secret. More on this as it develops.

(Via -Democratic Underground)

Mississippi: ACLU Rejects $20K Gift From Atheist Group For Alternative Prom

The ACLU has declined a $20,000 donation from the American Humanist Association which the group offered to fund an alternative prom open to all students, including lesbian teen Constance McMillen, whose story made international news after her school canceled its prom rather than allow Constance to attend with a female date.

“Although we support and understand organizations like yours, the majority of Mississippians tremble in terror at the word ‘atheist,’ ” Jennifer Carr, the fund-raiser for the A.C.L.U of Mississippi, wrote in an e-mail message to Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the humanist group. According to Matthew Sheffield, a spokesman for the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition, the organization arranging the event, the A.C.L.U. of Mississippi did not have authority to decline the gift. “We asked someone at the A.C.L.U. to assist us in handling all the donations, and that person told them we were not interested and that is not true,” he said. Mr. Sheffield said that after getting answers to a few questions, their board would decide whether to accept the gift. The alternate prom is scheduled for May 8. Regarding the A.C.L.U. move, Ms. Carr wrote to Mr. Speckhardt: “Our staff has been talking a lot about your donation offer and have found ourselves in a bit of a conflict. We have fears that your organization sponsoring the prom could stir up even more controversy.”

The ACLU says that the donation offer came with attached conditions that organizers would have trouble meeting, something that the American Humanists denied. Tonight Constance and her girlfriend will attend a private prom.

UPDATE: Since the above-linked NYT story was published, the ACLU has posted a notice of apology to the American Humanists, saying it was up to the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition whether the donation would be accepted or not. The ACLU also apologized for the wording in the email sent to the atheist group, saying their staffer's message does not "reflect the views of our organization in any way."