A lesbian teenager claims she has been tormented by peers since her high school cancelled its graduation dance because she wanted to bring her girlfriend.
Constance McMillen, 18, had demanded she be allowed to bring her girlfriend — also a student — to the end-of-year prom at Itawamba County Agricultural High School in Tennessee.
The school at first refused her request before announcing it was cancelling the April 2 event due to "recent distractions".
The teenager said she reluctantly returned to school this week after deciding that prolonging her return would only make things worse.
"My daddy told me that I needed to show them that I'm still proud of who I am," she told The Associated Press.
"The fact that this will help people later on, that's what's helping me to go on."
But she said some of her classmates now blamed her for the event being cancelled.
"Somebody said, 'Thanks for ruining my senior year'," she said.
McMillen said she never expected the college to ditch the event because the school community had invested so much time and effort into making it happen.
Her comments come as the American Civil Liberties Union said it would sue the school for cancelling the event.
A facebook page set up in support of McMillen has gone from having 2,000 members this morning to more than 40,000.
The Associated Press reported that the school now hoped a replacement dance could be held privately.
But McMillen said she doubted she would be able to bring her girlfriend even then.
"It's a small town in Mississippi, and it's run by an older generation with money — most of them are more conservative," she said.
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