Constance McMillen won’t be able to go to her prom after all, but she may still get some legal satisfaction. U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson wouldn’t grant the ACLU’s request to force the Itawamba school district to put on the prom, and let McMillen and her girlfriend attend as a couple, but he agreed that the district’s decision to cancel prom violated her First Amendment rights to free speech. The ACLU, who filed the suit on McMillen’s behalf, is calling Davidson’s decision to hold a trial on the issue a victory, and in some ways it is – it inspired one Georgia teen to ask if he can take his boyfriend to the prom, and if McMillen and the ACLU come out on top, it will help in building a body of legal opinions saying schools need to accommodate students’ sexual identities (and, by extension, their gender identities as well).

The incident has worn heavily on McMillen. Classmates are blaming her for prom’s cancellation, and to avoid hostility she has skipped school at least once already. “My nerves are shot,” she told the Huffington Post.

I think mine would be, too, if I was the only lesbian in a consolidated rural high school in a northern Mississippi town of 4,000.

Elsewhere…

Canada – Anne Coulter sent packing by University of Ottowa students protesting her hate speech. Police and University security decided the hostile atmosphere made it physically dangerous for both Coulter and protesters. (MacLeans)

D.C. – Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank call for a vote on ENDA now; Frank predicts a vote once Congress returns from the March 29th to April 9th recess (Frank’s been predicting ENDA and DADT votes are “near” for a long time). Meanwhile, the Center for American Progress worries that the Defense Department is dragging its feet on its DADT repeal study, and focusing the study on negative impacts rather than how to implement a repeal. For his part, Defense Secretary Bob Gates is trying to create his own “facts on the ground” by introducing new ways to make DADT “more humane” (possibly blunting any attempts to change the policy). (The Victory Fund, Keen News Service, DC Agenda, The Hill)

Maine – The Catholic Archdiocese of Portland has defunded “one of the biggest and most important” social service and anti-poverty programs in Portland, Maine, because it supported attempts to keep same-gender marriage legal in that state. I wonder if they still preach about the Bible’s injunction to help the poor in Portland’s churches? (AmericaBlog)

California – Midge Costanza, who engineered the first meeting of a sitting US President and LGBT leaders, has died of cancer at age 77. (The Advocate)

Malawi – A lawyer for the gay couple persecuted for holding an engagement ceremony speaks out

Teh Interwebs – Robert Pattinson has a hair director. Yes, that’s right. A hair director. (Towleroad)