by: 
AFY_EmilyB
AFY_EmilyBTuesday, July 20, 2010 at 10:46:00 AM EDT
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"Itawamba County School District officials agreed to have a judgment entered against them in the case of a recent high school graduate who sued her school for canceling the prom rather than let her attend with her girlfriend," says today's press release from the ACLU.
The suit has far reaching ramifications: the school also agreed to establish a "policy banning discrimination or harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, the first policy to do so at a public school in the state of Mississippi."
Read more about the shameful lengths this school went to to prevent the lesbian student from bringing her girlfriend to prom:
In March, after the Itawamba County School District refused to allow McMillen to bring a female date to the prom, the district canceled the event altogether. McMillen and her lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union challenged that decision in court, and a judge ruled the district could not bar McMillen and her date.
The judge declined to force the school district to hold the prom because a parent-sponsored, private prom was being organized — and the understanding was that McMillen and her date were invited to that event. But Hampton says McMillen was never invited and organizers made it very difficult for her to find information on the time and location. That prom was later mysteriously canceled, with the Friday night event at the country club officially replacing it.
Kudos to Constance and her family for pursuing this case and bravely facing down national outing and local stigma - your efforts will pay off for many future students.
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