Earlier this month we learned of 18-year-old high school senior Constance McMillen’s battle to let Itawamba Agricultural High School, in rural Mississippi, bring a lesbian date to the prom (and wear a tux). The school refused, the ACLU got involved, and now rather than let two queers infest a school dance, Itawamba administrators canceled prom for all.
It’s a brainless decision — the very type you’d think a school would be smart enough not to make. In announcing its decision, the school said in a statement, “Due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events, the Itawamba County School District has decided to not host a prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School this year.” In that same statement? They encouraged the community to organize its own private prom. The type that can freely bar the gays.
Meanwhile, rather than have the best interests of students at heart, Itawamba just made McMillen a bigger outcast than she might have already been; her peers are certainly going to blame her for ruining their prom. When, let’s face it, the only thing that ruins prom is sobriety.
fredo777
Since when is prom considered an “educational process”? Unless you count the lessons of getting drunk in a cheap tux + macking on some chick that you won’t remember years later.
Oh…was that just me?
* note: none of that happened. i don’t get drunk.
Synnerman
Oh Mississippi, I will be so glad when you secede and officially become the third world country you are.
Cam
This is a state where David Duke got something like 12% when he ran for President…what do you expect?
Lukas P.
“No Same-sex Samba in Itawamba!”
I had to say that.
I tried not to, but….
If you were going to write a fictional play or novel about being gay or lesbian –or Jason– in a backwater off-the-map kind of place, could you *THINK* of a better name than Itawamba Agricultural High School?
No, you couldn’t.
This poor Constance McMillen will now be subjected to all forms of hatred, and be blamed for trying to promote the Homosexual Agenda. I hope she stays safe, and gets the hell out of Itawamba the moment she’s able to. Graduating from a place that’s not an “Agricultural High School” might also help her find a job outside of farming or livestock management, if she so desires.
terrwill
Backwards, inbred, selfish, hateful, vile, disgusting, reprehensive persons who have influence on young persons lives…….
Just as well, being that we are talking an Agricultural High School in Missippi, there are most likely some farm animals that will be safer that night…………
AlanInSLCUtah
Someone should try to contact this poor girl for an intervention/interview to use the momentum of this story to save her ass and make the school really look like a horrible preditor praying on children.
ACLU LGBT
The ACLU just started a Facebook page to support Constance:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Let-Constance-Take-Her-Girlfriend-to-Prom/357686784817
DR
Facebook pages are all well and good, but what is the ACLU going to do now that this young lady is an even bigger outcast than she may already have been? I like the ACLU, but I hope they can help with that.
romeo
The fact that the school board had had to previously make a rule that only opposite sex couples could attend the prom tells you something about what’s really going on in Mississippi. My mother comes from Pontotoc County. LOL And I’m gonna be on the phone all day razzing my aunts and uncles there about this. The reality in Mississippi isn’t as uptight as it seems, though there’s plenty of bible thumpers. Plenty of people that get drunk and screw and generally don’t give a shit, too. And half of them are the bible thumpers! Poor ol’ Mississippi just keeps chasing its tail.
Amazing that the consistently poorest, fattest, least educated state in the Union has produced so many of America’s greatest writers. LOL
terrwill
The “adult educators” who made this decision are quite simply beyond reprehensive. They knew very well what they were doing by canceling the prom. It was a deliberate calculated move to cause this girl lots of grief and to make sure no other Gay kid even considered such a move……….
Some well funded group or individual needs to step in and throw the largest, Gayest prom ever thrown. To throw it back into their vile disgusting faces…
romeo
As for Constance, she’s made her point. In this case, I think she should now withdraw the suit in deference to her classmates so that the prom can go on. She should also attend, in a really butch looking dress. Her girlfriend can go in separately. I think that would be the best strategy to start breaking down that wall. The wall’s got big dents in it anyway.
AlwaysGay
I hope some people can help her and her girlfriend out because it’s going to get really bad for them in that area.
As for the prom and the school board’s decision, it’s totally expected. The heterosexual school board members and heterosexual parents want a heterosexual-only prom just like they want heterosexual-only marriage, heterosexual-only politicians, heterosexual-only teachers, heterosexual-only health care, heterosexual-only whatever.
Jaroslaw
#10 Terrwill – I agree with everything you said (and the word is reprehensible) 🙂
I would hope, [understanding as you did, that cancelling the prom did two things (1)made sure no Gay kid ever asserts themselves again and (2) made sure Constance was “punished” for standing up for herself] that the schoolboard could be sued for thought (2) above – putting Constance in jeopardy.
Further, I would think the schoolboard members themselves must be taking an incredible amount of heat for this. Even in Mississippi EVERYONE isn’t backwards… Why no parent(s) or kid(s) on the news saying “yeah, we don’t really want Queers at our party, but it ain’t worth cancelling the whole thing fer everybody….” Queerty – follow up please?
littlebylittle
There is an organization in Mississippi called the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition (MSSC), which is devoted to combating the bullying and mistreatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in Miss. schools. They are planning a prom for all Mississippi students, gay and straight.
To support the work of this important organization on the front line of the gay civil rights struggle, visit their website at http://mssafeschools.org/
A. Sane Person
Do you realizes that a Prom is a priviledge, not a right???? If the school wants to cancel, they can. They aren’t required to give a prom for anyone…
Quite frankly, the media hype over this is exactly what they were talking about when they said the situation is causing a distraction to learning. After all, aren’t kids in school to learn?
Whether I’m for or against the girls going on a date to the prom is immaterial, the point is the school has decided to not host a prom and since a prom isn’t a required activity, they have the right to make that decision…
Get over it, already…
Ryan
Has any of you ever thought maybe the reason they told her not to come is for her protection? I live about 20 miles from this school and if the school has a policy then there is probably a reason for it. I think she should follow the rules of the school and respect her classmates and just go with her friend, whoever she chooses, in appropriate dress, when I went to prom, being male i had to dress appropriatly, they would not have let me in wearing a dress. The real problem is in our school system, teaching these kids that no matter what thier wishes are, no matter how bizarre, it should be excepted, and that is wrong. there is a time and place for everything and a formal dance is a place to be dress up and pretend to be civilized no matter which backwoods toothless redneck variety you are. There is a clear breakdown of a sense of what is right or wrong here, the ACLU does not have the right to tell her how to live her life or who she can date, but when people come out in droves into a public place they expect to see people act accordingly and with dignity and class and an attention hungry teen girl groping another in hopes some teenage boys will get excited and give them 14 mins of attention is wrong wrong wrong. The world does not revolve around 1 or 2 people.
romeo
@ #15: What I want to know is what a sane person is doing here? And, Ryan, you’re being completely incoherent. The ACLU is not telling her what to do, they’re protecting her right to be treated equally. With that post, I hope to God you’re not one of my cousins there.
terrwill
@A. Sane Person: Um, am kinda sorta thinking that your name doesn’t really apply to your actual ways of thinking…….As pointed out by numerous posts on this thread including mine this was a calculated move designed to punish the entire student body and place blame entirely on the Gay kid………They don’t have the right to make thatdecision……..
Lukas P.
@romeo: I agree that the point has been made and that withdrawing the suit is worth considering based on how much [if any] support she can get from family/friends plus the surrounding communities. I hope she stays safe and gets the heck outta town if she’s not. We don’t need a martyr here.
Doug McMillen
From one gay McMillen in Canada to another in USA, stay strong, proud, loud and don’t take any BS, even if it is an AG High School. We’re all praying for ya, honey!
Kiley's Critters
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=360938797982&ref=mf
missanthrope
“Whether I’m for or against the girls going on a date to the prom is immaterial,”
It isn’t the reason they canaceled the prom was that a gay person wanted to show up with their partner. Attending prom is privilege, but you can’t deny a privilege for no other reason is that they’re gay and dressing butch. If it were for a legitimate punishment for something done at school your argument would hold weight. But it’s bigoted and illogical to deny someone going to a prom because they’re gay, since it’s a school event that the school organizes, this is a case of discrimination by the school.
Proms and social activities in general are a “distraction to the learning process” but we hold them anyway because school is a social as well as a education sphere of society. If you were really concerned about distraction, you would be calling for the end to proms and other extra-curricular activities period. So your argument is intellectually dishonest.
But it was the school’s decision to bar her from the prom, it was their decision to cancel the prom. She merely wanted to attend the prom like another student. Instead the school administration is so bent on discriminating on her that they decided to create a distraction by canceling the prom.
It’s an all-around shitty situation when bigotry ruins everyone’s fun, it’s even worse when people like you start trying to blame the victim.
Cam
No. 15 · A. Sane Person said…
Do you realizes that a Prom is a priviledge, not a right???? If the school wants to cancel, they can. They aren’t required to give a prom for anyone…
Quite frankly, the media hype over this is exactly what they were talking about when they said the situation is causing a distraction to learning. After all, aren’t kids in school to learn?
__________________
Your agenda is quite clear. And the media hype is NOT exactly what they were talking about…they passed a rule before there was any media hype saying that couples had to be boy/girl. So since there was no hype at the time, what was their reasoning? If School is only to learn, as you say….then fine, I’m sure this school won’t mind getting rid of all it’s sports, Music, and other after school programs…because after all, you said a school is only there for people to learn. (Should I comment on the fact that Mississippi is always ranked last in education so it doesn’t seem like much “Learning” is going on down there.)
Hal McRaney
Here is a link to the email addresses and contact information for the Itawamba School District board members that made this decision:
http://www.itawambacountyschools.com/board_members.htm
School Board Members:
First District – Eddie Hood
Second District – Jackie Nichols
Third District – Harold Martin
Fourth District – Clara Brown
Fifth District – Tony Wallace
Tom
This is exactly why I left Mississippi. I’m straight, but prefer to think for myself rather than be a zombie sitting in a pew listening to the religious right tell me how to think. Constance is doing the right thing, I just hate that she is being vilified for it.
As an atheist, I know how those religious nutjobs down there are when you don’t blindly follow their doctrine.
And just remember – the south is a shithole. Got it?
Tom
@romeo:
You sure about Mississippi not being that uptight? This is the state where the governor’s solution for having an educational system about as bad as what you might expect in some third-world country in Africa proposed the sweeping change of “bringing god back into the classroom”. Never mind bringing in textbooks that have been printed since 1975 or teaching kids to read or write, as long as “god” is there, the school system will be the best in America.
And you’re right, that state is without question the dumbest, fattest, nastiest place on earth. It’s the unwashed, cheesy asscrack of the world and southern baptists are the biggest problem.
And for the record, I bet they wouldn’t have had this big of an issue if Bubba wanted to bring a sheep as his date.
romeo
Whoa, Tom, I think you really are one of my cousins. LOL Actually, my family down there is kind of exceptional, in that they have college degrees and tend to think for themselves. But I know what you mean. ‘sippi is an asscrack in a lot of ways. My point is that everything still goes on there, but it’s just all a big hypocritical joke. A lot of people are bullied by the Southern Baptists, but plenty are thinking for themselves on their own time. Problem is, it’s a desperate place that never really got over the Civil War. A lot of what you see is just a chip on the shoulder.
But religion is big down there. And everywhere that religion is big, guaranteed it’s going to be poor, badly educated, and usually fat if the food is available. It’s changing, though.
Kiley's Critters
Support Constance
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=360938797982&ref=mf
jose luis
live in the united states is live in a free world and respect that unfortunately happens that gays are the new black.
LOVE AND PEACE AND RESPECT
Elaine
@terrwill: “Some well funded group or individual needs to step in and throw the largest, Gayest prom ever thrown. To throw it back into their vile disgusting faces…”
I agree that a prom should be thrown for Constance McMillen and her girlfriend as well as other young people from the school who are supportive of them.
Freddy
How dare this girl ruin everyone’s prom? She could have come in a regular prom dress, bumped bush with her girl friend and no one would have been the wiser. But NOOOOOOOOO this (b)witch demands she wear a tux just to show everyone I’M GAY!! Lets have a effin parade. I’m glad they cancelled it. The ACLU demanding she be allowed to go in a tux. Shut UP, be gay, don’t wear a banner shoving it up everyones butt. (bad choice of words)
Freddy
Hail the school board memebers that didn’t bow down to the ACLU and the gay groups!!!!
School Board Members:
First District – Eddie Hood
Second District – Jackie Nichols
Third District – Harold Martin
Fourth District – Clara Brown
Fifth District – Tony Wallace
We need some values back in America.
Freddy
“This poor Constance McMillen will now be subjected to all forms of hatred, and be blamed for trying to promote the Homosexual Agenda”
She is trying to promote the homo agenda. If not, she would have just gone to the dance.
AND NO, I am not homo-phobic, afraid of homo’s. I am for a RETURN to decency in America. Be gay, who cares, I don’t, but now her homo agenda, and the plan to make the national news, has runined it for her classmates. Good job McMillen….now you’ll have this hanging over your head forever. The internet always remembers. When you grow up, and fall in love with a man and get married w/kids….remember your prom and be ashamed. Grow up, you kids in high school think you rule the world, what a joke.
jess
one thing people should know about this place: we live in the Bible Belt…i dont condemn this girl for her actions, but i dont sanction them either..i totally agree with the school board in their decision…its better to b thot of as being narrow minded than lax…thhe Bible says :Staight is the gate, and narrow is the way”..i would rather b considered narrow minded and have a reward in heaven than conform to the world and spend eternity in hell…i pray for this child and those who support her that God will come into their hearts and that they will lead a God-filled life and realize that the things of this world is fleeting, but Heaven is everlasting!!!!
jess
i am not a hypocrite and im not a southern baptist, but i am a christian who believes in the word of God and His promises!! i would rather have the world hate me and think me ignorant and know my soul belongs to the Almighty God than have the world love me and spend eternity in damnation!! i pray for those who dont have Christ in their life and think we r being backwoods and ignorant..oh well, the Bible says that those who love Him will be despised on earth..it doesnt matter, bc wen my time comes, i will not have a worry as i stroll on streets of gold…can the people who support this make that claim?? i will be praying for them and for this nation!
jess
@terrwill:
allstarecho
Jess.. the school is a PUBLIC school. If they don’t want to associate with gays, lesbians, blacks or hispanics, they still have plenty of private schools around that they built last time they wanted to be away from the blacks. As a tax-paying, voting PROUD TO BE BORN, RAISED AND LIVING IN THE BEAUTIFUL STATE OF MISSISSIPPI GAY MAN, I’m sick of you bible-thumpers demanding we live by your fictional book and by what you think is best for us. No more. Kicking and screaming my dear Mississippi, you WILL come to the present day! There are those of us that will see to it.. to the very end! We will not sit down, shut up and do as we are told any more! Keep your religion out of MY PUBLIC SCHOOL and keep your religion out of MY BEDROOM! Kicking ass and sipping on ice-cold sweet tea, that’s the menu from now own! You want to bitch and complain about “gay people shoving it down our throats”?? Straight people shove it down our throats every day via kissing, hugging, making out, publishing wedding notices.. you are no better than me! Brace yourself Mississippi, you’ve finally pissed off the wrong people in your state, and I’m one of them!
strumpetwindsock
@jess:
Look Jess,
You have every right to live your life the way you want. Kindly keep your nose out of ours. You are supposed to have a free country down there in the U.S., and separation of church and state besides. What kind of un-American talk is this?
I seem to remember your boss saying something along the lines of “judge not…” Maybe you can remember the rest, and hopefully you can think about the meaning behind it.
teen31
first of all i would like to state that i am also a senior at itawamba agricultural high school as well as constance. personally i am disgusted with the media, newspapers, and magazines because they have blown this way out of proportion. i like many of the students have not wished to comment on the matter due to the media twisting our words around so as to make us look bad. our school image has deteriated since this event took place and its due to people wanting attention. constance is getting famous from all of this, and she is craving attention. i support the school board 100%, and so do most members of the school. so what if mississippi isnt california, if people have a problem with this state then move. i am so sick of people trying to shove what they believe down my throat. now that i am considered the majority, it seems as though my opinion doesn’t even count. noone at our school discriminated against constance, and constance knew when prom was first announced that she would not be allowed to bring the same sex as a date. ACLU got involved just because they knew that IAHS would not have the funds to defend themselves. They are using Constance, and i hope she wakes up and realizes that before its to late. You know its sad to me, that people will do just about anything to get in the lime light, no matter how far they have to go. They make websites especially for this and broadcast it on the news, just to have something to talk about. honestly i am embarrassed that a student at our school would go this far just to get a few minutes of fame. in the end constance might have had a little fame, but at the very end of the day what has she really done. She might of got on the news and made herself a little famous, but really what has she accomplished.
Queerbegone
suppose I will be blasted here since it looks like everyone on this site is gay or gay supporters. I think Constance McMillen knew exactly what she was doing that it would cause chaos. She does not seem to care about her fellow students just herself and her selfish sodomite sex in everybody’s face. Shame on you Constance for arrogantly shoving your perverted sex in everyone face. If the students turn on her that is on her. She started it, now will have to suffer the consequences. Students can be very mean to each other I remember high school days. Whats the ACLU going to do put all the students in jail if they don’t accept her?????
EAlmquist
@allstarecho: Glad that someone is in the area and hell-raising mad! Read a summary of your comment in Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2259423/
I hope Mississippi comes around.
allstarecho
@EAlmquist: Thanks for the Slate link. We’re still being loud and proud and working for a better way in Mississippi. If you’re in Mississippi, you should check out and maybe join Unity Mississippi. http://unityms.org/about
allstarecho
Also new news today, the Itawamba County School District offered $35,000 for damages plus court costs, and adoption of an anti-discriminatory policy on sexual preference or gender identity.
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/itawamba_lesbian_teen_it_was_pretty_bad_072010/