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Dan Savage Calls on Readers to Help Constance McMillen

Posted by: Natasia Rose on March 18, 2010.

: Image by soundfromwayout via Flickr

03/18/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Celebrities, including Perez Hilton, Ellen and Chelsea Handler (who invited Constance to Hollywood on her show last night and also offered to have comedian Sarah Colonna hook up with her) have all weighed in to raise awareness of the plight of Constance McMillen. If you don’t know by now, Constance is the Mississippi teen who is out and proud and when she tried to bring a date to the prom, the Itawamba school district canceled the prom instead. Constance has gotten text messages from classmates blaming her for the canceled prom and she is currently suing the school district. However, a lawsuit won’t be able to soothe the homophobia Constance has had to endure or the anonimity from her classmates.

Dan Savage, advice columnist, blogger, author and Gay activist, is calling for his readers to act on Constance’s behalf. In his latest column, he signs off with this plea:

CONFIDENTIAL TO SAVAGE LOVERS: I need to ask you to do something. Not for me, but for a teenage lesbian in a small town. Constance McMillen is a senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi. When she asked if she could attend prom with her girlfriend, she was told no. When Constance pressed her case, the Itawamba County School Board canceled prom rather than allow Constance to attend with her girlfriend. The school board had to know what would happen next: The other students blamed Constance for getting prom canceled and “ruining senior year.” Constance is now being harassed and bullied.

The school board claims it canceled prom to avoid “distractions.” Now it’s up to us—to decent people everywhere—to make sure that bigotry and discrimination are a much bigger distraction for the Itawamba County School District than inclusion and tolerance ever could’ve been.

E-mail, call, and fax Itawamba Schools superintendent Teresa McNeece (tmcneece@itawamba.k12.ms.us, phone 662-862-2159 ext. 14, fax 662-862-4713) and Itawamba Agricultural principal Trae Wiygul (twiygul@itawamba.k12.ms.us, 662-862-3104). Then join the Facebook page “Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom.” And, finally, make donations to the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition (www.mssafeschools.org), which is organizing an alternate prom that will welcome all students, and make a larger donation to the ACLU LGBT Project (www.tinyurl.com/yl9mvkb).

Call, write, fax, donate. Constance needs to know that there are people all over the world who are on her side. And, more importantly, Itawamba County Schools needs to know that we’re not going to let them get away with this. Be respectful, but be relentless. Let’s show these bigots what a real distraction looks like. Get ‘em.