Constance McMillen: Lesbian Student Awarded $35,000 over Prom Flap

For one teenager, justice has finally been served.

You may remember the story of Constance McMillen. Back in March, we told you about how her school cancelled her prom due to the fact that McMillen was a lesbian and wanted to attend with her girlfriend.

A school district in Mississippi has now agreed to pay her $35,000 in damages and impose a new policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU had sued the school district on McMillen’s behalf after school officials told her that she and her girlfriend would be expelled if they went to the prom together.

“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 said on Tuesday.

The ACLU says McMillen “suffered humiliation and harassment after parents, students and school officials executed a cruel plan to put on a decoy prom for her while the rest of her classmates were at a private prom 30 miles away.”

McMillen says the “fake prom” was a sham because only a handful of people attended.

“A lot of people were talking about how it was a joke just set up for me,” she previously said.

Since the story first received national attention, McMillen has since served as grand marshal for New York’s Gay Pride Parade, received a $30,000 college scholarship from an unnamed donor, and a Facebook page called “Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom!” has racked up about 410,000 fans so far.