Mississippi outrage: 'Fake proms' for lesbians

Local parents duped Constance McMillen — the lesbian who'd won the right to attend her prom — into attending a fake event. Is Fulton, MS, the "meanest town in America"? 

A photo of the "real prom" showed up on Facebook.

After a federal judge ruled in her favor, Constance McMillen, a lesbian student at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, MS, took her girlfriend to the big event last Friday. Only problem: The big event was a sham. McMillen, along with only five other students, two with learning disabilities, was tricked into attending a "fake prom." As documented on Facebook, the rest of the senior class held a secret parent-organized prom some 30 miles away. Is Fulton the "meanest town in America" or did McMillen somehow push the parents into duping her? (Watch Constance McMillen give her side on 'Ellen')

It takes a village to be so "hateful": This "disgusting caper" reflects very poorly on the Itawamba students, says Eric Zorn in the Chicago Tribune. But they're just kids. What's "sickening" is that it took virtually a whole community of "bigots," "fools," and "wicked people" to pull this off this cruel "sham" prom.

"Hateful parents, teens conspire to throw fake prom..."

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McMillen is the problem: Yes, we held a separate dance, but "it wasn’t prom," says Lindsey Begley, a classmate of McMillen's, in a Firedoglake comment, via The Inquisitr. Constance got her prom, and the rest of us got a "drama-free gathering," after a lousy year of dealing with McMillen's "crazy-reckless need for attention." The "lesbian card" didn't work this time, and "I’m proud" we didn't "let her and the ACLU steamroll us."

"Constance McMillen’s classmates confirm prom ruse..."

The "fake prom" was probably better: It's "dispiriting" the absurd lengths "ignorant douche-bags" will go to "avoid a girl in a tux," says Mary Elizabeth Williams in Salon. Of the two proms, I'd want my daughters at McMillen's. Constance "got to walk through that door on the arm of the person she wanted to dance with," and in the end, that's the only person who matters.

"Fake prom staged to trick lesbian kids"

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