Constance McMillen, the teen who sued her Mississippi high school after officials canceled the prom rather than let her bring her girlfriend and wear a tux, stopped by the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center on Saturday, March 27.
Accompanied by an ACLU representative, McMillen met with other teens and adults (a few from Mississippi) to check out the Center's charter school for LGBT youth, the only one of its kind in California.
Instead of a formal speech, the 18-year-old opted for a half-hour or so Q&A because she had to "catch up on homework."
In her Southern drawl McMillen explained her situation quite simply, "I was dating a girl ,and I decided to go to the prom with her." "l knew it was against the policy and decided to ask school officials."
Officials said 'no,' and the rest is becoming LGBT history: The ACLU filed a case against the Aberdeen school saying McMillen's First Amendment rights were violated. Last week a judge ruled in her favor of but didn't order the prom back on.
The teenager, poised and confident on stage, said that despite the national support (she recently received a $30,000 scholarship from Ellen Degeneres), "90 percent of the student body hates me right now."
Lorrie Jean (The Center's Director) and Constance
Still, many have been supportive. "It makes me want to keep going (when things are tough at school)," she says. "I have 4,000 messages on Facebook, and that's not even my Myspace, and I'm going to try to message everybody back."
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