The tale of Constance McMillen, the 18-year-old lesbian from Fulton, MS whose high school prom was cancelled after she invited her girlfriend to it, continues to provoke strong reactions. Not content with sending McMillen to a "decoy prom" while having a secret party elsewhere, the student's classmates reportedly set up a Facebook page titled "Constance quit yer cryin" to express their resentment. The page now has 2,289 "fans" and has been compared to the coordinated cyberbullying efforts that Phoebe Prince and other young bullycide victims endured. That said, notes Dan Savage at the Portland Mercury, the page has recently been swamped by positive messages of support for McMillen: Looks like this little stunt "backfired on" its perpetrators "pretty spectacularly." Here's a sampling of the pro and anti-Constance comments that have been posted on the Facebook page:
ANTI-CONSTANCE
• "I hope she's gunned down by a school shooter."
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• "I’m proud that we took a stand and just said, 'You know what? Forget it, we have just as much right as you do to have a party for ourselves.' So we did, and now we’re getting flack because poor Connie’s ego got a bit of bruising."
• "[The rest of the students] flexed the muscle of the majority and they're willing to suffer the consequences. Why is everyone else so butthurt that some teenagers just didn't want the company of some annoying girl?"
• "Traditional marriage has gotten us this far...why change for the sake...this is Palin Country."
PRO-CONSTANCE
• "I support Constance. I sincerely hope that, just like segregation and everything it entailed, discrimination of gay people will soon be frowned upon. That we may, someday, look back at this bigotry as a sad story of days long gone."
• "It is my sincere wish that the students involved grow up to be better people than their parents, and one day realize what a despicable thing they participated in."
• "May this hate page turned Enlightenment Page help at least one person who went along with this despicable behavior question themselves and their motives."
NOT EXACTLY PRO-CONSTANCE
• "Everybody: think hard about what you put up here. It can come back to haunt you. Employers and college admissions offices monitor FB to check on prospective students and employees. Are you willing to lose a chance at a job or an education because you couldn't be courteous?"
