Remember your prom?

Remember your freshman year in high school when you saw the juniors and seniors (and even those suuuper popular sophomores) getting so excited for prom? Good or bad, remember your prom? Who did you go with? Did you feel welcome? Did you dance and sing and let loose with your friends? Was it FUN? Maybe you didn't have a significant other, but did you get dolled up for a girls night out with your closet girlfriends? There are many questions here that Constance McMillen will never be able to answer. And for what she can answer, they won't be happy memories.

Many of you know who Constance is: the girl in Mississippi who wanted to bring her girlfriend to prom and was rejected. The school administrators decided to cancel the prom before letting 2 lesbians attend together. Not only did Constance have to deal with the disappointment of not going to prom, she had the entire school hating and blaming her for the cancellation of their prom, and no one, not even teachers, stood up for her. I can't even type this without disgust.

Constance has become a well-known name in many households, she has appear on talk shows like Ellen, on which Ellen offered to throw her a prom. She politely declined. It's not about going to a prom, it's about going to MY prom. [Instead, Ellen gave her a $30,000 college scholarship from tonic.com] With the help of ACLU in the federal courts, Constance's lawsuit was filed and came to a resolution that the school administrators would reschedule the prom. Constance was invited. But not to the real one. While the entire school received invitations to party the night away at their high school prom, Constance and 6 other students received invitations to an alternate "fake" prom provided just for the misfits. ADULTS actually took the time and effort to send 7 students to a different location as to still not allow them to go to the real prom.



You may expect immature high schoolers to stoop to the levels of ridicule, torturous games and insensitivity, but the parents? The administration? This is truly something beyond my comprehension because I have faith that people are inherently good.

Some parents and teachers cited that having two lesbians a prom would be an educational distraction to the other students, preventing them from further learning. Prom isn't a night of education, it's a right of passage and a night of fun that ALL should be able to experience. Major kudos to Constance for the maturity and dignity with which she has dealt with a personal issue, magnified in the public media. She is someone from whom these parents could certainly take a lesson.