Cited: ABC News/USA Today

A Mississippi high school senior has filed suit to get the school’s prom rConstanceeinstated after officials canceled it because the young woman, an open lesbian, asked to attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.

The lawsuit, filed March 11 in U.S. District Court, charges that 18-year-old Constance McMillen’s free speech rights were violated when school officials told her they would be enforcing the district’s policy that prom dates must be of “opposite sex.”

McMillen is dating a sophomore girl at the school. She requested permission from the school’s principal and the superintendent not only to bring her girlfriend, but to wear a tuxedo.

She was told, according to the lawsuit, that the pair would have to arrive separately and could be thrown out “if any of the other students complained about their presence there together.” McMillen was also told she could not wear a tuxedo, according to the suit, because boys are to attend in tuxedos and girls in dresses.

On March 10, after the American Civil Liberties Union told the school board that banning same-sex dates violated the students’ rights, the district canceled the April 2 prom for the entire school.

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In a statement issued March 11 by the Itawamba County Board of Education, school officials said the prom was canceled after consideration for the “education, safety and well-being” of the students and that they hoped “private citizens” would take it upon themselves to throw the students a prom.  McMillen was not named in the statement, but the statement said the decision to cancel the prom was “due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events.”

The lawsuit — which also names Principal Trae Wiygul, Assistanct Principal Rick Mitchell and Superintendent Theresa McNeece — requests not only that the prom be reinstated and the opposite-sex date policy be lifted, but that female students be allowed to wear tuxedos and that the school district admit its policies restricted its students’ freedom of expression.

“We certainly want a declaration that what the school district did was unconstitutional,” Sun said, adding that the ACLU is planning to file an emergency motion to get the matter resolved in time for the prom to be reinstated.

An attorney for the Itawamba County School District said in a U.S. District Court filing late March 19 that the school board decided to call off the high school prom to settle the “very explosive and disruptive issue” of the district’s ban on same-sex dates.

Itawamba Agricultural High School senior Constance McMillen “wishes to make the defendant district the site for a national constitutional argument over gay and lesbian rights” is according to the filing by school board attorney Benjamin Griffith.

Continued in “Prom Canceled Because of Sexuality Part 2″

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My Take: Homophobia!  It seems that it is rampant in Mississippi.  Do people actually believe that being around a gay or lesbian that it will rub off on them or someone else?  They are human beings too!  What happens behind closed doors is nobody’s business.  If this young lady was working in a similar situation arose, she could easily hire a NY employment discrimination lawyer and get it resolved.  But, it seems to education board is in more need of Nassau County harassment attorneys.

On the other hand, there is one point I can partially agree with.  That is the dress code.  It is tradition for the guy to wear a tuxedo and the girl to wear a formal dress.  I am big on keeping up with tradition.  I think there could’ve been a compromise if McMillen would have agreed to wearing a floral dress instead of a tuxedo.  Then again, many schools have done away with this tradition and allow the students to wear what they like.

At some schools, guys are allowed to wear designer jeans like Mek denim jeans and the girls can wear something from Hause of Howe Clothing.  So I guess it’s just a matter of who is willing to give a little bit to reach a compromise.  However, it seems that the parents have taken matters into their own hands.  They have organized a private, by invitation only, prom and have not invited McMillen former girlfriend.

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