Miss. Teen Lesbian Heads to--and Heads Up--NYC Pride
0The lesbian Mississippi teenager who started a national flap about gay youth and school proms is slated to lead New York's Pride Parade this Sunday, June 27.
Constance McMillan has been busy in recent months, ever since a federal lawsuit brought on her behalf by the ACLU resulted in the cancellation of her high school prom--and the scheduling of an alternate "formal dance" to which McMillan was not invited. (Instead, McMillan and a handful of other students were shunted to what some have dubbed a "fake prom," while almost all of the teen's other classmates attended the formal event elsewhere.)
McMillan's stance has generated controversy, but has also shined a light on the topic of GLBT youth and the school culture that they face every day--a culture that might be summed up by how well their schools deal with the question of gay and lesbian students bringing their actual significant others as dates to the dance.
The national debate on the issue has garnered McMillen air time on Ellen's talk show, along with a hefty $30,000 scholarship from the openly lesbian entertainer, reported the New York Daily News in a June 22 article.
McMillen is also slated to meet the president during a White House event in recognition of Pride month that is schedule for the evening of June 22, the article noted, and she'll be one of the Pride parade's grand marshals. Then she's off to Woodstock for a benefit concert as not only a recipient of the concert, which is, in part, raising funds for her college education, but also as the guest of The Roomettes' Ronnie Spector.
McMillen's dance card has been full not only with this month's whirlwind of events, but with travel and appearances for the past several months. In May she was a featured guest at this year's GLSEN Respect Awards ceremony, a gala event in New York meat to honor "leaders who work to promote safe schools for all students," as a May 27 posting at the GLSEN website described it. Also in attendance: photographer Annie Leibowitz, openly gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson, newly out country star Chely Wright, and fellow young activist Will Phillips, the 10-year-old from Arkansas whose protest against unfair and unequal treatment of GLBT Americans took the form of refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance along with the rest of his class.
A June 21 article at The Clarion Ledger quoted McMillen, who ended up transferring to another high school for the last few weeks before her graduation, as saying, "I'll never get my senior year back. But the experiences that I have had because of this have really made it a lot easier. It has really helped me."
"She has been able to handle this adversity with incredible grace and dignity," said ACLU attorney Christine Sun of her young client.