Constance McMillen‘s been through hell and back standing up for herself. All she wanted to do was attend her senior prom with her girlfriend.

But her Fulton, Mississippi high school canceled prom in response.

Money was donated (and rejected) so she could attend an alternative prom.

She didn’t need an alternative prom, though, because she was told there was already one in the works (run by the school, on private property), and she attended it.

But it didn’t go as planned.

The school district invited McMillen and five other students to a prom at a country club in Fulton on Friday night, while the parents for the other students held a “real” prom just miles away. “They had two proms and I was only invited to one of them,” McMillen tell the Advocate. “The one that I went to had seven people there and everyone went to the other one I wasn’t invited to.” McMillen says the school principal and teachers served as chaperones for the seven students that were at the dance.

Prior to the prom night, McMillen asked one of the students organizing the event for details and was directed to the country club. “It hurts my feelings,” McMillen says. The most disturbing part of this story is that two of the students that were also sent to the “fake” prom apparently had learning difficulties. “They had the time of their lives,” McMillen recalls. “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].”

This is absolutely deplorable behavior.

All “adults” (and I use that word loosely) who work at Itawamba Agricultural High School ought to be ashamed of themselves. So should the parents who took part in all this. So should the students who find all this funny. What the hell do you think you’re doing?

Are there no people in that community with a heart?

So many other people have commented on this already. I want to echo their words.

From Jen:

Constance, get the fuck out of there and don’t come back. Use that scholarship to go to a good college, educate yourself, and rise above the muck that you happened to get stuck in. These people don’t fucking deserve you.

From Eric Zorn:

It’s sickening to imagine how many parents and students had to be involved to pull off this disgusting caper at a country club in Fulton, Miss. … Kids, sometimes they don’t know any better. I, for one, was not always as kind as I should have been to schoolmates who were different, and it’s a regret that I carry to this day. And occasionally you’ll find some parents who don’t know any better. Bigots. Fools. Wicked people. But virtually an entire community of parents and teens had to conspire to pull this off.

(Supposedly) from a senior at Constance’s high school:

The reason the senior class boycotted the actual prom was not because we hate gays. We wanted a drama-free gathering to celebrate 3 great years and 1 lousy one together, and we wanted to lay low. We also wanted to do it without the main cause of the lousy. What people are failing to realize is that much of the fault of this whole stink lies with Constance, not her mistreatment by the school district, but her crazy-reckless need for attention. It sounds mean and horrible and like we planned it all specifically to embarrass Constance, but we didn’t. We let her have her prom with her girlfriend and her tuxedo and we went to party it up in the “boondocks” not because we wanted her rights violated, but so we could salvage what has turned into a total fiasco.

And PZ remarks about Constance’s classmates and the online trail they’re idiotically leaving with their comments:

I hope employers and college admissions committees find the hateful association between their names and what they say. Not that it’s much of a worry for these losers; Jiffy Lube probably doesn’t care much about their network trail, and Liberty University would probably consider bigotry an asset.

The summer can’t come soon enough.

I hope Constance takes the goodwill coming from so many of us and the positive press she’s getting from so many bloggers and columnists and channels it into something wonderful.



