All Constance McMillen (right) wanted to do was bring a date to the prom. But the fact that she wanted to bring a girl (horrors!) in a tuxedo (the audacity!) prompted her Mississippi high school to cancel the prom, then reinstate it under court order — at the same time helping parents organize a clandestine prom presumably free of upstart lesbians in tuxedos.
The school district's machinations backfired, however. In a suit brought by McMillen and the ACLU, the district agreed yesterday to pay McMillen $35,000 in damages, and to institute a non-discrimination policy to protect rights of LGBT students.
The district admitted no wrongdoing in the case, claiming McMillen's rights were not violated. And for McMillen, the victory is decidedly bittersweet, as queerty.com pointed out:
This article appears in Jul 15-21, 2010.