Miss. school drops prom after lesbian student asks to bring date

Miss. school drops prom after lesbian student asks to bring date; student calls it retaliation

By Associated Press

7:18 AM CST, March 11, 2010
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An 18-year-old student says a Mississippi school board that canceled a high school prom did so in retaliation for her request to bring a same-sex date.

The American Civil Liberties Union had demanded that the Itawamba County school district allow senior Constance McMillen to attend with her girlfriend. A school district policy requires that dates be of the opposite sex.

A school board statement Wednesday announced the district wouldn’t host the April prom. The district’s statement didn’t mention McMillen’s request but did refer to unspecified recent “distractions.”

McMillen tells The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson in Thursday’s edition that other students at the school will hate her for the board’s decision and called it retaliation.

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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com