Constance McMillen was most recently turned away from attending her Senior prom. Because she was gay. And wanted to bring her girlfriend. Need I say how appalled I am that this kind of stuff actually still goes on. The school evidently cancelled the entire prom, rather than allow McMillen and her girlfriend to attend together. McMillen states that the majority of students feel that it was her sexual preference that cost them the prom.
However, leave it to Ellen to come to the rescue; she awarded McMillen $30,000 in scholarship money to continue her schooling and also offered her an internship in New York City and also allowed McMillen entrance onto the Ellen DeGeneres show to discuss the setbacks she endured in coming “out” in high school.
I absolutely love Ellen and I think more people should spend their time being like her — if not in financial donations, than at least in love for others.
The networks should really consider calling the top-rated talk show the Ellen the Generous Show. Yeah, corny, I know, but so true.
I was appalled when I read about this earlier, and say what you will about Ellen on idol, but on her show she really does a lot of good.
Yayyy Ellen!
ps it still kinda sucks that this high-school does not get a prom though, shouldn’t some sort of advocacy group be looking into this?
I am a die-hard, hardcore Ellen fan. When they announced that she’d be taking Paula’s place on Idol, I practically danced with joy. She’s just so loving and amazing in every possible way.
I read this story on Perez Hilton and was completely pissed off. It wasn’t just that they canceled prom, but after that, the girl was bullied by almost every senior. She was told like a million times that “she ruined prom”. That must have been hell for that girl. I’m so glad that Ellen did this for her, and I heard Perez Hilton also invited her and some of her friends to his amazing birthday party.
It’s great that everyone got to know about this story, because things like this shouldn’t happen these days.
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I don’t understand the school’s jump in logic from “lesbian wants to bring her girlfriend to prom” to “stop everything!!” Did they just want to demonize her? Why on earth would you cancel prom? If anything, they could have just said no to her and let prom continue (yes, they still would have been discriminating, but it makes more logical sense than totally canceling prom). This just really doesn’t make any sense to me.
Hell there were two girls at my high school that were clearly lesbians and went to prom in matching tuxes; definitely didn’t bother anyone. Then again, my high school was a lot more laid back about that bullshit prestige aspect of prom.
I think they actually just said “no” to her at first, and then they said she could bring her girlfriend but they couldn’t dance, hold hands or kiss because they would make everyone there feel “uncomfortable”. I guess the girl wanted to fight for her rights so she made a big deal out of it in school (which she totally had a reason to) so they cancelled prom because now it was a “scandal” or something as stupid as that. I think they said that all the attention the girl was getting for this was distracting all the students from their studies so prom should be cancelled. I’m sure it was something like that. Awful.
It’s less discriminatory to just cancel prom for everyone. If they tell the lesbian she can’t come they’re discriminating against her. If they cancel prom they’re not discriminating against anyone in particular.
Ellen Degeneres is awesome. Everytime I have a bad day, I imagine her voice saying, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…”
“Because she was gay. And wanted to bring her girlfriend.”
She didn’t die, she still exists. Therefore, the reason is not because she WAS gay, but because she IS gay.
I feel bad for this girl, and the way the school and her classmates are reacting – but why does this make her suddenly deserving of $30,000 and an internship?
I have to agree with you here. It is great that she stood up for what she believes in, but….
Is it because she’s gay? If so, that’s not really a good thing. Is she a good student? Does she volunteer in her community? All of these things are factors in life. Kids work unbelievably hard to get scholarships, and this just didn’t seem like that type of situation.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that she stood up and fought for what she believes in (did she? Or did this gain media publicity some other way? Did she call the school out?), and I don’t think that ANYONE should ever be discriminated against for who the love, but c’mon.
It’s great that Ellen gave her money for college, but what is she rewarding? Being gay? (FTR, I know how terrible that sounds, but please just bear with me) What if the girl already has money for college? Or doesn’t have college education aspirations? This money could have been used as a means to get students to make better grades, volunteer more, etc. I just don’t understand.
I think it’s great that Ellen is such a wonderful proponent for gay rights. She’s done so much good for so many and I really think she’s a great positive force. But….
I don’t know. Something just seems off here. Is it just me? Am I a wretched bitch?
No you’re not.
I have to kind of agree with both of you here.
I can just imagine students lying about sexual orientation and trying to exploit this sort of thing in the future… But sometimes I have very little faith in people.
What does sexual orientation have to do with being more rewarding of a scholarship?
Eh, it’s all just part of the talk show showbuisness thing I guess. The more they can get people to jump around cheering the better *rolls eyes*
Ellen is awesome though.
@Whit: Did you watch the clip? It wasn’t Ellen per se who donated the money to Constance, she facilitated the delivery of a check from tonic.com to Constance, who earned the money by doing something good in the world, not by being ‘gay’. If you watch the video, it is very clear and answers most of your questions and debunks some of your assertations.
I did not watch the clip, but I will do so right now. Thanks!
I’ll say I’m gay and discriminated on, if Ellen gives me $30K. I’ll have to pack on 80 pounds or so to look like that fine confused young lady, though.
BTW, Covergirl or L’Oreal make-up must be making too much money. Ellen is going to kill sales flogging their make-up. Like Tootsie, no one needs a close-up of this handsome lass!
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