Mississippi School Agrees To Revise Policy And Pay Damages To Lesbian
Teenager Denied Chance To Attend Prom
July 20, 2010
Agreement Marks First School Policy Protecting LGBT Students In Mississippi
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org; (212) 549-2666
ABERDEEN, MS - Itawamba County School District officials agreed to have a
judgment entered against them in the case of a recent high school graduate
who sued her school for canceling the prom rather than let her attend with
her girlfriend. The agreement ends a precedent-setting lawsuit brought by
the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of 18-year-old Constance
McMillen, who 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.
"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," said McMillen, who was harassed so
badly by students blaming her for the prom cancellation that she had to
transfer to another high school to finish her senior year. "I hope this
means that in the future students at my school will be treated fairly. I
know there are students and teachers who want to start a gay-straight
alliance club, and they should be able to do that without being treated like
I was by the school."
As set forth in documents filed in court today, school officials agreed to
implement a policy banning discrimination or harassment on the basis of
sexual orientation and gender identity, the first policy to do so at a
public school in the state of Mississippi. The school also agreed to pay
McMillen $35,000 in damages and pay for McMillen's attorneys' fees.
"Constance went through a great deal of harassment and humiliation simply
for standing up for her rights, and she should be proud of what she has
accomplished," said Christine P. Sun, senior counsel with the ACLU Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project. "Thanks to her bravery, we now not
only have a federal court precedent that can be used to protect the rights
of students all over the country to bring the date they want to their proms,
but we also have the first school anti-discrimination policy of its kind in
Mississippi."
In addition to today's legal judgment against the school, an earlier ruling
in the case set an important precedent that will help prevent other students
from suffering the kind of discrimination McMillen experienced. In March,
the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi issued a
ruling in McMillen's case that school officials violated McMillen's First
Amendment rights when it canceled the high school prom rather than let
McMillen attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.
"We're pleased that the school district agreed to be held liable for
violating Constance's rights. Now Constance can move on with her life and
Itawamba school officials can show the world that they have learned a lesson
about equal treatment for all students," said Kristy L. Bennett, co-counsel
on McMillen's case. "This has been about much more than just the prom all
along - it's about all of our young people deserving to be treated fairly by
the schools we trust to take care of them."
After IAHS's original prom date was canceled by school officials in response
to McMillen's request that she be allowed to bring her girlfriend and wear a
tuxedo, parents organized a private prom at which district officials told a
federal judge McMillen and her date would be welcome. That private prom was
then canceled as well, allegedly because parents did not want to allow
McMillen to attend, instead organizing a "decoy" prom for McMillen and her
date and another prom for the rest of the class. McMillen and her date then
attended the event the school had told her was "the prom for juniors and
seniors" on April 2, where they found only seven other students attending.
Principal Trae Wiygul and several school staff members were supervising that
event while most of McMillen's classmates were at the other prom in
Evergreen, Mississippi.
"We hope this judgment sends a message to schools that they cannot get away
with discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.
LGBT youth just want to be treated like their peers and do all the normal
high school things, like going to the prom with the date they choose," said
Bear Atwood, Interim Legal Director at the ACLU of Mississippi. "We're very
proud of Constance for standing up not just for her rights but the rights of
LGBT students everywhere."
McMillen is represented by Sun, Bennett and Atwood, as well as by Norman C.
Simon, Joshua Glick and Jason Moff of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP,
and Alysson Mills of New Orleans.
The case name is Constance McMillen v. Itawamba County School District, et
al. Additional information is available at
www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/fulton-ms-prom-discrimination. There is also a
Facebook group for people who want to support McMillen, "Let Constance Bring
Her Girlfriend to the Prom," at
www.facebook.com/pages/Let-Constance-Take-Her-Girlfriend-to-Prom/357686784817.
***
http://www.readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/72-72/2482-another-senate-charade
Another Senate Charade
By Matt Taibi of Rolling Stone
TAIBBLOG: July 19, 2010
This note comes courtesy of my friend David Sirota out in Colorado. This is
a classic example of how the Senate works. If the public understood better
how rigged this game is, and how few issues are actually left to an honest
vote in the legislature, I'm pretty sure the pitchfork factor would be twice
even what it is now.
The short version of this story: Bernie Sanders had put forth a proposal in
the Senate to put a 15 percent cap on credit-card interest. Who isn't in
favor of this kind of legislation? The only difference between credit card
companies and loan sharks at this point is that you can choose to not
patronize a loan shark. As an adult professional in this country one has to
have a credit card - it's impossible to rent a car, buy a hotel room, shop
online or do countless other things without one.
But all the credit card companies use the same insane formulae based on FICO
scores to charge exorbitant interest rates for anyone who slips up - and
they don't exactly make it easy to not slip up. (I'm doing research on this
subject so anyone who has a particularly egregious story about being ripped
off by credit card companies, please write in). Almost everyone has horror
stories about consumer credit and my guess is that if put to a national
referendum, something like the Sanders 15% cap would pass pretty easily.
In Washington, of course, it's another story. Finance/Credit companies spent
well over $30 million in lobbying in each of the last two years. If you take
a look at contributions to Banking Committee members, you always find
Finance and Credit companies at or near the top of the list. The credit card
companies' dominance of congress was never more apparent than in the
Bankruptcy Bill back in 2005, which essentially made it impossible for
people with credit card debt to file for bankruptcy to keep their houses.
So when something like this Sanders thing comes up, the outcome is usually
pretty predictable. The measure got beat pretty soundly, but the Colorado
delegation provided a comic asterisk to the defeat. Both of the state's
Democratic Senators, Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, initially voted "no."
But right before the vote, i.e. once it became clear that the bill had no
chance of passing, they both switched sides and joined 31 other Senators in
voting "yes."
Right after it happened, Bennet was accused of changing his vote so that he
could seem like he was for the measure, even though he had no intention of
voting "yes" if the bill had any chance of passing.
A spokesman for Bennet's Democratic primary challenger, Andrew Romanoff,
says it appears Bennet changed his vote after it was clear the cap proposal
would die, so he could tell constituents he voted "yes" for consumer
protection.
"The general public has no idea what goes on in the name of political
self-preservation," said Romanoff spokesman Roy Teicher. "This is why people
hate Washington, and this video makes their case swiftly."
This sort of thing is so common in the Senate, nobody even blinks anymore.
One of my favorite examples was Alabama Republican Richard Shelby's decision
to cast a "yea" vote for the doomed Brown-Levin amendment mandating the
breakup of "too big to fail" companies. Brown-Levin was first of all a
classic example of how the leadership, in this case Harry Reid, never lets a
dangerous amendment get voted on until he's quite sure that it will lose.
But when Shelby - one of the chief obfuscating forces in the entire finance
reform effort - decided to cast a "yea" vote for Brown-Levin, it was almost
like a Senatorial attempt at humor.
Obviously there's no proof that this is what went on with Udall and Bennet,
but it's not hard to draw conclusions. Very little is left to chance on the
Senate floor. The leadership does a careful head count before every vote,
and it's rare that the outcome of any important vote is a surprise. I've
even been told that sometimes members will get the blessing of the
leadership to cast "populist" votes once it's been determined that the
measure will fall short.
P.S Here's Sirota's video on the issue
P.P.S. Watch the video closely. You can see Udall and Bennet initially vote
"no." Then you see them conferring with Chuck Schumer, at which point
they're probably learning that the vote will lose. At 3:07:57 Bennet
switches his vote, and 15 seconds later Udall does the same.
***
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/07/12/18653615.php
Drive-by attack on Southwest Workers Union housing complex in San Antonio
by repost
Monday Jul 12th, 2010 5:39 AM
Solidarity House fired on with machine gun last night; one intern critically
injured.
Dear Southwest Workers Union members, allies, and friends,
It is with sadness that I reach out to the friends and allies of Southwest
Workers Union to invite acts of solidarity, remembrance and prayers. During
the early hours of Sunday morning, the Solidarity House on SWU's complex in
San Antonio's near Eastside, where workers and volunteers were staying
during the summer campaign, was attcked by a violent drive-by shooting that
left one young college intern in critical condition. The intern was working
this summer on the Roots of Change community garden, is in critical but
stable condition with a bullet wound to his pelvis. Fortunately the seven
other folks in the home are safe.
We call on the Eastside, the City and local and national organizations to
join together to condemn this act and work towards the creation of safe,
healthy communities. We ask for support for the victims and their families
and movement towards a unified effort to eliminate the root causes that
breed violence and poverty in our neighborhoods. We need safe streets and
safe peaceful spaces for people and organizations working towards social
justice and cannot allow such ruthless acts to go unnoticed. We will
continue to raise our voices against all manifestations of hatred and for
real justice in our communities.
Join us in solidarity and prayers for the shooting victims and to
demonstration support for peaceful communities across San Antonio and the
world.
SWU set up a Peace & Solidarity Fund for the victim and his family.
Donations or cards can be sent to:
Peace & Solidarity Fund
Southwest Workers Union
PO Box 830706
San Antonio, TX 78283
Donations can be made online here:
http://www.causes.com/causes/504358?fb_page_id=88816282633&m=71bb3202&recruiter_id=133560299
In Solidarity,
Genaro & members of SWU
http://swunion.org/
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