ACLU Is Suing Miss. School For Canceling Prom

03/11/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
A lesbian asks to take her girlfriend to the prom, the school cancels the prom rather than let her do it, and the ACLU files suit. That is exactly what happened in Mississipi. The American Civil Liberties Union in Mississippi filed suit in Federal court alleging that the Itawamba County School System violated the First Amendment rights of Constance McMillen. According to Christine Sun, an ACLU lawyer with their national LGBT Project, “It’s shameful and cowardly of the school district to have canceled the prom and to try to blame Constance, who’s only standing up for herself. We will fight tooth and nail for the prom to be reinstated for all students.”

McMillen is a senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School, and she challenged the schools ban on her attending with her girlfriend, and that she was required to wear a dress. Instead of allowing her to do so, the school canceled the prom.

According to the school board, they called off the prom because of “distractions to the educational process” and “after taking into consideration the education, safety and well being of our students.” Of course, on those grounds, all after-school and extracurricular activities including sports and all dances, pep rallies, and clubs would have to be canceled and never reinstated since they do often distract from the education of most high schoolers.

“She’s fighting for everyone to be able to enjoy the prom. The government, and that includes public schools, can’t censor someone’s free expression just because some other person might not like it,” said Mississippi ACLU legal director Kristy Bennett. She also stated that she believes that the school board is trying to make a villain out of McMillen.

The school of some seven hundred is in Fulton, Mississippi. It is about twenty-five miles outside of Tupelo.

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ACLU files suit against Miss. school for canceling prom