Constance McMillen Invited To White House LGBT Pride Reception

Lesbian teen Constance McMillen has been invited to join a select group of activists at a White House reception tomorrow to celebrate LGBT Pride Month.

The White House confirmed Friday that Obama will host the event and is expected to deliver brief remarks. After the prom controversy, McMillen said, she faced a hostile environment from her peers and transferred out of her northeast Mississippi school district to a school 200 miles away in Jackson. She said she broke down in tears at the graduation ceremony. "I didn't really want to walk, but I did it for my parents," she said. "My name wasn't on the program." On Friday, McMillen will be the guest of honor at a benefit concert in Woodstock, N.Y., with Spector, best known for her hits with the Ronettes in the early 1960s. The money raised will go toward McMillen's college education and the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project and AIDS Project. Two days later, she will be in New York City as one of the grand marshals in the city's gay pride parade. "I'll never get my senior year back," she said. "But the experiences that I have had because of this have really made it a lot easier. It has really helped me."

The White House hasn't released an official list of the invitees, but according to the Washington Blade, most of those attending will be the leaders of state LGBT activist groups.