Constance McMillen Awarded $35K, Itawamba County School District Ammends Anti-Discrimination Policy

(July 20) -- A Mississippi school district has agreed to pay $35,000 to 18-year-old Constance McMillen and to amend its anti-discrimination policy to include discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The new policy is the first of its kind in Mississippi schools.

"I'm so glad this is all over. I won't ever get my prom back, but it's worth it if it changes things at my school," McMillen, who was backed by the ACLU, said in a statement. "I hope this means that in the future students at my school will be treated fairly. I know there are students and teachers who want to start a gay-straight alliance club, and they should be able to do that without being treated like I was by the school."

McMillen, a recently-graduated high school senior, sued the Itawamba County school district in March when it wouldn't allow her to bring her girlfriend to prom or to wear a tuxedo to the event. Instead, the school cancelled the prom altogether. In March, the U.S. District Court of Northern Mississippi ruled that Itawamba County School District officials had violated her first amendment rights.

After canceling the prom, school officials organized two more proms in April: one a decoy that McMillen and her girlfriend attended unwittingly with only seven other students, the other a "private prom" that was being held for the rest of the school at the same time.