Judge: Rights Violated in Prom Case, But No Injunction

This from Mark Walsh at the School Law Blog:

A Mississippi school district likely violated the free speech rights of a lesbian student when it refused her permission to take her girlfriend to the prom or to wear a tuxedo, a federal district judge has ruled.

But U.S. Senior District Judge Glen H. Davidson, of Aberdeen, Miss., denied an injunction that would have required the 3,700-student Itawamba County School District to reinstate the April 2 school-sponsored prom, which was canceled March 10 amid the controversy over the request by student Constance McMillen.

Because parents have stepped forward to put on a private, inclusive prom open to all students of Itawamba Agricultural High School, "the court finds that requiring defendants to step back into a sponsorship role at this late date would only confuse and confound the community on the issue," Judge Davidson said in his March 23 opinion in McMillen v. Itawamba County School District.

Despite his refusal to grant the injunction sought by the American Civil Liberties Union on the student's behalf, the judge's preliminary ruling was that McMillen's First Amendment rights were violated...

Backstory from CBS News.

Teen goes to prom in skimpy dress, ends up in bracelets

This from USA Today:

Marche Taylor ended up in handcuffs after wearing a skimpy dress to her high school prom in Houston.

The fireworks started when a chaperone refused to let the teen into the dance because the gold number she was wearing showed way too much skin. “She shook her head, she was like ‘you are not getting into this prom,’” Taylor tells KHOU-TV. “We were arguing back and forth because I wanted to know why I can’t get into my prom.”

Eventually, things grew so heated that school officials called in a
uniformed police officer, who escorted Taylor out of the building in
handcuffs...