Who Does This To A High School Kid? **UPDATED**

You may have heard recently about Constance McMillen, the young woman who wanted to take her girlfriend to the prom. Rather than having the prom at all, her school district in a little town in Mississippi canceled it. That's right, they canceled the entire prom rather than let her bring her girlfriend.

Wow.

Well, to make matters worse, not only did they initially cancel the other one, but after some, um, "consideration," provided an alternative. Except it wasn't really: McMillen: I Was Sent to Fake Prom. Bear in mind, this is a high school girl. What were these people thinking? I contend they were not:

Constance McMillen confirmed to The Advocate that she was sent to a "fake prom" while the rest of her class partied at a secret location at a parent-organized event.

To avoid Constance McMillen bringing a female date to her prom, the teen was sent to a "fake prom" while the rest of her class partied at a secret location at an event organized by parents.

McMillen tells The Advocate that a parent-organized prom happened behind her back — she and her date were sent to a Friday night event at a country club in Fulton, Miss., that attracted only five other students. Her school principal and teachers served as chaperones, but clearly there wasn't much to keep an eye on.

"They had two proms and I was only invited to one of them," McMillen says. "The one that I went to had seven people there, and everyone went to the other one I wasn’t invited to."

Last week McMillen asked one of the students organizing the prom for details about the event, and was directed to the country club. "It hurts my feelings," McMillen says.

No kidding. If course it hurt her feelings, which anyone, especially a PARENT should have known:

Two students with learning difficulties were among the seven people at the country club event, McMillen recalls. "They had the time of their lives," McMillen says. "That's the one good thing that come out of this, [these kids] didn't have to worry about people making fun of them [at their 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.

These people are THAT intimidated by two little lesbians? Holy cow, people - get a grip already! What did they think she was going to be doing at the prom besides dancing? And it isn't like high school kids don't know homosexuality exists or anything. So cruel - incredibly cruel - of them to have treated her this way.

When your high school, your school district, your classmates, and their parents, all treat you like a pariah simply because of your sexual orientation, yeah, it's gonna hurt your feelings just a tad (and no wonder suicide among L/G/B/T youth is four times - I said FOUR TIMES - as high as it is for heterosexual kids). I am glad Constance is standing up for herself, though. What a lot of strength this young woman is demonstrating. That kind of intestinal fortitude should put her in good stead as she makes it through life.

In the meantime, shame on the people in her town, the parents and the school district members, especially. If someone treated their child like Constance is being treated, they wouldn't like it one little bit. And they wouldn't stand for it.

And they shouldn't expect Constance to stand for it, either.

Update: Meileen, at NQ, mentioned that the parents in this school district are teaching hate, and this is how another high school dealt with that issue: