Youth + Family

Lesbians Take Girls to Prom: We Have a Gallery For That

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So this girl Constance McMillen wanted to take a girl to prom, and wear a tux, and the principal was like hell to the no, and then the ACLU got involved, and then the school just decided it would be better to cancel prom altogether. Why are they so afraid of how cute girls look in menswear? No but srsly.

We have a feeling, even though we are old, that some girls are bringing girls to homecoming/prom/fancy-wear day dances these days. Amirite? Are you one of those girls/boys? Well let’s celebrate those photos everyone is so f*cking afraid of! VISIBILITY, LADIES!

Send us your prom photos!

1. Email your photo to autostraddle [at] gmail [dot] com.

2. We won’t publish your name [unless you give us permission] but…

3. If you can, we’d love to know when & where the photo was taken — city/state & year of the event.

4. We’ll start putting up the gallery this evening and keep building it as we get submissions. [You can see it here in this post, or on its own page.]

5. If absolutely necessary we can smiley-face over your ex-girlfriend if she’s really crazy or a famous tennis player.

6. Everyone who sends in a photo will be entered to win a $25 Amazon.com Gift Certificate, we’ll draw a name at random on Sunday and announce it in the Sunday Funday.

7. When you’re done with that, check out LezGetReal, where the ladies are putting a full-court-press on Ellen (yah, that ELLEN!) to organize a prom in Mississippi so this girl can freakin’ go!

And let’s hope that come springtime, we’ll be able to add Constance McMillan and her ladyfriend to the gallery.

Tell everyone! Tweet this, put it on your facebook, — we wanna see a bajillion cute gay faces ready to embark upon the most overrated night of their lives — fight the lesbian shaming.

Note: All of these photos used to have captions with the year, the location, and the girls in the photograph indicated. However when our photo galleries were transferred when we switched the plug-in we use for galleries in March 2013, the captions apparently weren’t transferred. We are looking into why this happened and if there’s any way to fix it.

Related:

Riese is a Jewish lesbian and the 37-year-old CEO, CFO and Editor-in-Chief of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, blogger, fictionist, copywriter, video-maker, low-key power lesbian and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and then headed West. Her work has appeared in nine books including "The Bigger the Better The Tighter The Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty, Body Image & Other Hazards Of Being Female," magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 2606 articles for us.

210 Comments

  5. oh man I wish! My senior year I asked my girlfriend to prom. I told my besties that I invited her, and subsequently shunned.

    Salt in the wound? My gf cheated on me with a boy after that.

    I have photos of me and my gay bf, and maybe some group photos of gay prom. Does that count?

  6. I went to my Junior Prom with a gay dude and I skipped by Senior Ball to go out on the town with two of my best girlfriends. I hade no clue at the time that there was a reason I was avoiding straight guys, but it all became clear a few short years later!

  8. Frantically searching for pics…ahhh!

    Yeah, so I went with a chick, but (unfortunately) we ended up being nothing more than friends. We both wore dresses, which was mostly forced on to us by our mothers…but we did look fantastic together…

  10. I went to prom with a girl but we weren;t dating or gay so that prob doesn;t count. But she was the prettiest girl there!
    I am looking forward to this. I had a dream that autostraddle had a yearbook and everyone submitted photos for the superlatives. .
    I do think the whole situation is just absurd and I am sorry that it is happening to that girl and consequently to the study body having to pay for the close mindedness of a few.

  12. i wanted to go to prom with a girl! but she was all, let’s go as friends, so we both brought dates, and then had all sorts of pre-lesbian drama on the dance floor while our (male) dates watched from their seats. but that probably doesn’t count…

  14. Took a boy, but years later hooked up with a girl from our table. I really wish someone would throw a prom for people out of hs who didn’t get it right the first time.

          • Just an idea, in the spirit of homo-together humanity, but I betcha we could double this gallery and show the haters a thing or two if the boys were invited to play (i.e.: send some emails out to the folks who run like-minded blogs and websites for the guys – afterelton, etc.).

            Girls in tuxes, girls in dresses, boys in tuxes, boys in dresses, and any combo therein…should prove the point.

            My 2 cents.

          • i like everything about that idea except for the part where we have to email a bunch of websites… i’d say the response rate of one website to another website’s request/suggestion for this or that project they are doing is probs like 5%? that’s why we didn’t do that the first time around. but i dunno, if they all posted about it that would be pretty amazing, i wonder if they would…

          • I guess I made an assumption that there was more communication between you and the people who ran those sites, Riese…more like when you mention knowing the folks who run the lesbian blogs (re: when you were talking about the Lezzie awards).

            “Cold calling” might not be fruitful, but you never know.

  17. sadly i didn’t make it to prom, my friend and i sat on the steps of her house got really drunk and passed out in our dresses smh

    my date was gonna be a boy anyway…so it worked out perfectly lol

    BY THE WAY I LOVEEEEEEEEE THIS IDEAS GUYS!

  18. My school was soooooo okay with being gay that a lot of gay people went in opposite-sex couples for funsies. Also it was boarding school, so we got taken to the place in school busses and then afterwards all went bowling. I went with my boyfriend obviously. Junior year went with my gay best friend. Seems like A LOT OF US WENT WITH GAY BOYS. Interesting.

  21. Ugh this makes me soooo jealous.. my prom is coming up..I really want to ask this girl but i Dont have the GUTS to do it. Plus im already stuck going with a guy because I dint want to date him i told himid be his date…NOT FAIR!

  25. oh my god I’M ON AUTOSTRADDLE (err, my picture is, anyways). This is so cool, you guys.

    Now that my vanity is out of the way, everyone in these pictures are beyond adorable. Seeing picture of happy gay girls all dressed up is the perfect way to end my day.

  27. Last year I went to prom in a big group. :/ I wish I had a cute date like all of you lovely ladies! Shoot. I got asked if I wanted to wear a tux for senior portraits though, but I declined.

  29. I would like to purpose a collage of these photos be put on billboards throughout the county of Itawamba. I am sure it would not be hard to find donors for this!

  30. aww how adorable!!

    We didn’t have a concept of prom in school in Malaysia (moral panic over teenagers being sexual + Western culture panic) so I didn’t have my first “prom”ish experience till college ball. Which is where I met my guy. Though a few minutes earlier and I might have got the courage to ask a female friend out ahahaha.

    eee squee. I feel like coming up to all of you and pinning corsages and pinching your cheeks like a proud mum.

    • Looking at the photos made me unexpectedly tear up a wee bit.

      So my vision was a little blurred when I mis-read ‘dragging’ as ‘shagging’ as I flicked down through the comments.

    • haha mine, too, but whatevs, we got em now right? 🙂

      i went to prom stag, despite actually having had a girlfriend at the time, but it was just really something i ended up feeling too cool/lame for anyway.

      • I went to prom with my best friend who went to an all boy school. i love him to death but if u go to a school with only one sex u can basically only dance with ur date cuz otherwise ur hitting on someone’s boy or girl friend. haha

    • mine too!

      buttttt i don’t know if i would’ve even had the idea to put together this gallery if i hadn’t known that my g/f took her girlfriend to prom in high school in 2003 and surely she couldn’t be the only one. so there ya go, magical exes.

  37. Everyone is so cute! I just watched the Telephone video! I have a lot of things to say about it! Hi!

    Also I went to prom with my best guy friend. It would have been sooo not okay for a same sex couple to go. Seriously, a couple of years before, my school was going to refuse to sell tickets to an interracial couple. Ridiculous.

  38. I had a boyfriend throughout high school, so all my dance photos are of me and him. 🙁 My girlfriend went to some other chick’s prom as her date, but she doesn’t have any pics! DAMMIT

  39. These photos should give every girl that’s too afraid to ask the girl of her dreams to prom some confidence.

    I only went to my junior prom and I ended going with my best guy friend (straight, unfortunately) only because I was mad at my girlfriend at the time. Very stupid reason, I know, and now I don’t have any cute pictures to show for it.

    • *poor girls

      Not “poor” like Kelly Kapowski, who had to have “Zack and Kelly’s Prom” outside the real prom because her dad didn’t have enough money to buy her a dress.

  44. I SEE MY FRIEND. That makes me smile. These are awesome pictures!

    I went to about three balls at highschool. First two I went with male friends of mine, leaver’s ball I went by myself! And got to awkwardly dance with my Dad and shake the bishop’s hand. Yay catholic girls school!

  47. We didn’t have a prom or any fancy ball. Coupling is not exactly encouraged (conservative asexual Buddhist much?) but I would’ve asked a girl out or went with a really close guy friend (who’s now queer too).

  48. i have to scan mine in – from 1993! luckily, by then, any embarrassing hair cuts were in the past. i was particularly proud in my tux and tails, though, because although my date was straight, she was the cutest cheerleader in the school, and she turned down all her other offers to the prom and told all the football players she was going with me! this is one of the nicer memories i have of high school.

  49. this makes me smile. mad congrats to all the self-aware and willing to be out high school (or college for some) people. some of us needed to be hit over the head later in life to come to our senses. 🙂

    though I can join the “brought a guy who later revealed himself to be gay” club. he may or may not have been aware he was gay at the time–I don’t know.

  52. this is so awesomely cute guys

    i never went to prom…i kidnapped my ex gf drove down to key west [from miami] and spend the weekend down there [lol down there, get it …its a pun!]

    it was fun but now i kinda regret it cause that whole relationship was effed up by her ex bf….but whatever, i digress

  57. Wow. You ladies have my utmost respect. If I could do things all over again, this is how I would have done it – out and looking fabulous.

    Seriously, you are all amazing and brave little gaysoldiers (is that legal yet?) for the cause of love/highschool.

    I’m very proud of each and every one of you! I feel like your mom.

    Bye honey!

  63. My ex submitted a photo of us from her prom, which I went to as a female in a tux. I went to a wedding at my church immediately before her prom in that tux and the next week was asked to no longer be a prominent member in the church. Everyone deserves a prom!

  66. Gosh, I don’t have any pics (and /technically/ didn’t go with this girl), but one of my girl-friends who is openly gay wore me on her arm the entire evening. We had a blast!

  68. You go girls! Love this gallery! So a bunch of white trash morons lost an occasion to get drunk and act stupid… maybe there won’t be less unwanted kids born next year… Darwinism at work!

  70. plz come post ur pics in our group.. we are supporting the girl from Fulton mississippi that wanted to wear a tux and take her gf from to prom.. plz come show ur support so she can see this wasn’t an outlandish request!!..

  72. Could I be more jealous of these ladies? I went with my best guy friend (not gay, surprisingly) from another school. We did go in a hearse, though. It had skull lock buttons and was pretty excellent.
    You are all so cute. Way to work it and give me hope all at the same time.

  75. My school is in conservative Utah and I was kind of worried, but on Thursday the principal totally ok’d all LGBT couples for our Senior Ball! I’m so excited to have my photo up there with all of you lovely ladies 😀

  76. CUTESPLLLLOOOOOSION X 10 MILLION

    I’m so glad I got to be a part of this! (I’m Julie from the pic of ‘Julie & Allie’ from Denver, CO in front of the fountain)

  77. I’m bawling. All of your beautiful photos give me so much hope for our generation of Lesbian/Bi girls. It makes me feel so much emotion to know that I truly am NOT the only girl whos had to struggle with liking girls in high school. There arn’t any out people in my school, but your photos have given me a reason to want to change that.

  78. These pictures make me so happy!

    At my prom, my female best friend, who I was in love with, was dating our mutual male friend, who later came out as gay and who had super religious parents who didn’t approve of dating, so to fool them all three of us went “as a group of friends.”

    …Whew.

  92. I’m so happy to see so many lesbians from New Hampshire, woo represent!

    Although I went with my best friend who I was totally in love with to my prom, I wasn’t out so it sadly doesn’t count… 🙁 But this gallery is so amazing, keep it up! 😀

  93. Absolute gorgeous photos! Just seeing all the joy in these snaps makes me want to do a little dance, but also makes my heart break a little more for Constance. I hope she, and girls like her everywhere, get the chance to enjoy a night like this, wearing whatever they want and going with whoever they want.

  95. I’m a straight guy who didn’t even go to my prom. As a site, though, this is genius. I’m totally and utterly for gay/lesbian equal rights, and sites like this send an awesome message for the cause.

    Y’all rock. ‘Nuff said.

  96. I can’t stop smiling.

    It’s easy to look at the screaming half of America and think it will be downhill from here.

    Then you look at such an inspiring collection of this generation here and you know they will win.

  98. This is so great! Well done to you all, you’re so inspirational and cute.

    But I do have to say that I think the two ladies from Rhode Island have broken through some sort of cuteness Event Horizon and synthesized a new supermassive industrial-strength weapons-grade isotope of pure cute…

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  106. See, this is something I’ve never understood about homophobia, or people wanting to deny equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. Look at those pictures. Look at how friggin’ *happy* so many of those couples are (the ones not acting like goofy teenagers, anyway). *Why* would anyone want to deny someone that happiness? Why? I just don’t get it.

    And for the record, I’m a flabby, middle-aged, heterosexual white dude. Just so’s you know. (Now, we *did* have gays and lesbians in our wedding party . . . maybe I should send in a picture?)

  107. Looking at all these photos, I’m struck by the clear abundance of love, joy, friendship, fun, and yes some fab rags too. I wish the folks running Itawamba school district could get beyond being freaked, and maybe in these photos people will be reminded that y’all are/were their childrens’ classmates and friends and are … yunno … PEOPLE!

    So fun, yes! Solidarity, yes! But I also hope this opens some eyes.

    I hope that when my daughters (eventually) go to prom, they’ll have the freedom to go with whomever they want.

    Seriously, you all look FABULOUS…

    Much love, be happy, take care,

    Ru (and thanks for listening to an old straight guy)

  108. Nitpicky request:
    For photo #53, could the order of the names be switched?

    I’m sure I sent it in as “Emma and Jessica,” but I am Jessica, and I am on the left. Hahaha. Thank you.

    Emma and I are honored to have our picture among all the rest.

    • the names aren’t captioned in any particular order or meant to correspond with the order the people appear in the photograph. i can change that for you though, not a big deal, but just fyi.

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  112. So I have a picture of my girlfriend and I after graduation at the senior party, it probably doesn’t count but we were formally dressed up UNDER our grad robes.

  116. The cuteness and sheer joy in those pics is both overwhelming and incredibly inspiring. Yay for everyone above! I totally support that sort of happiness and freedom and courage.

  117. Back in high school you could not have dragged me kicking and screaming to a school dance – my friends tried, but it’s just not my scene. Hell, I still don’t like clubs and the likes, so I probably wouldn’t go even now. Still, I’m relenting on some of my prom disapproval just this once because, hey, it’s hard to say no to a bunch of young women who look like they’re having such fun! Seriously, after reading the recent press releases, it’s gives me hope seeing there are schools were the prom is meant for students to come dance and hang out and not as a way to showcase old fashion “values” about boys bringing their future high school sweethearts (that goes for both the schools that won’t let students go with same sex dates and – just as disgusting – the schools that don’t even sell single’s tickets but force people to “pair up”. Because nothing is better than telling our children that they’re not allowed to go out to what’s made out as the biggest night of their high school lives unless they’re straight and dating – everyone else is apparently just a freak. Great educational values right there.)

    Also, the nice looking suit wearing girl in the first pic (Kassie & Samara) has got to have one of the hottest suits I’ve ever seen (not a big fan of the full out formal tuxedo, but loving this suit look) PLUS I’m just jealous of her hair and wish I could pull it off. Seconds later I felt bad about considering a teenager cute and being in anyway jealous of her consider I should be a little too old for this behavior.

  118. I don’t have any pictures nor did I ever take a girl but i totally support this cause. keep it up ladies, make them see what foolish things they are doing 🙂

  120. Sent my photos in last week – are you still posting them?

    I will look at this gallery every time I get down about the state of the queer world (DADT, Prop H8,etc.) It makes me smile. Thanks so much for doing this.

  121. It’s so wonderful seeing all these pictures, even in light of the recent news about the two young women in Mississippi denied the right to attend theirs. My prom was 21 years ago and I didn’t attend – I couldn’t even be out of the closet. I would have, if I could have – and you girls (and guys) that want to, or are able to, please have extra fun for those of us that didn’t get the chance. And good luck and best wishes for an amazing future. It’s a different world, only because we make it. 🙂

  122. Hi! This is an amazing collection of photos, and very similar to what I am intending to start on this blog – http://fuckyeahlgbtqprom.tumblr.com/. I would like to start a collection of photos that can be constantly developing. If any of you are able to submit photos, it would be really appreciated!

    This tumblog is mostly a response to the Constance McMillen bullshit (http://tiny.cc/lwcx7),but we also want to recognize that lots of queer people are silenced
    and unable to be public about their sexuality. And by sending in your pictures, we’ll start to break those chains of silence.

    lgbtq.prom@gmail.com

    Please forward widely!

  123. I went to a very christian high school… I wonder if I had worn a tux what the would have done haha… pretty sure taking a girl would have been a huge no-no though. We only had one formal at the very end of high school though, and I dropped out before then, so never went.

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  132. Is it weird that I’m a straight boy who wants to take a straight girl to prom, but I would secretly want my date to wear a tuxedo? I’ve always had a thing for a girl in a tux, but I don’t know a lot of single straight girls in my school that I like who would actually go along with that. Not to mention I’ve never been on a date before. Any advice?

  134. 2010 was my final year! I took my then girlfriend to mine, and under duress wore a dress, but the next year, at her final year I got to rock a suit. These photos bring back so many memories!

  135. I didn’t go to my senior prom with a lesbian but later in the night when my date started paying more attention to his friends than me a lesbian classmate filled his place. My first lesbian experience happened that night and he went home alone.

  137. What a happy place! Just ‘shared’ this page with my daughter to encourage her to ask her GF to the year-end senior formal. As a proud dad, I’d love to see that awesome couple’s smiles join the others on this web page.

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