Baldwin, who was substituting for Kyra Phillips, brought on McMillen just after bottom of the 10 am Eastern hour. The CNN anchor trumpeted how the Mississippi teen was meeting with President Obama later in the day and how she was going to be grand martial for New York's annual homosexual prade, and first asked, "Would you trade that all in if you could have gone to the regular prom with the rest of your classmates?"
After McMillen gave her initial answer, Baldwin continued by mentioning how a U.S. District Court ruled that Constance McMillen's high school violated her rights when they cancelled their prom, but omitted that it didn't force the school to reinstate the dance: "Now, we know that the court eventually ruled - they said, absolutely, that the school violated your constitutional rights. And I want you to explain, though, what happened, because you transferred schools, right, late in your senior year? Why did do you that?"
Later in the interview, the anchor sympathized with the homosexual teen: "So you transferred schools, and I can only imagine- it's the end of your senior year, where you can't walk with the rest of your classmates, right? Maybe you wouldn't have wanted to. But I understand that at graduation day, normally a happy day for a lot of us- it was pretty tearful for you. Why was that?"
Baldwin didn't once mention how the teen's former high school classmates might have been affected by her actions. A slanted CNN.com article from earlier on Tuesday about how McMillen and fellow homosexual teen Ceara Sturgis (whom Soledad O'Brien sympathized with during a June 15 report) have found "support in each other" hinted at the classmates sentiment: "McMillen says despite the difficult times, she wants to return to Itawamba and begin studies at the local junior college. She wants to be near her high school girlfriend. She says it won't be easy. 'My best friend -- we had been friends for like seven years -- has not spoken with me since the day they canceled prom,' she says."
The anchor closed out the interview by asking McMillen to give advice to other homosexual high school students: "Before I let you go, for people who are watching and watched your story the past few months, what message- what have you taken away from this, and what message might you have for- maybe, some other teens who are suffering in silence?"
CNN has given a full-court press to their upcoming "Gary and Tony" documentary by airing several reports which helped further homosexual activists' agenda. Besides O'Brien's June 15 report, the network aired a gushing two-part report on the two "powerhouse" lawyers who are leading the effort against California's Proposition 8, and conducted two softball interviews of the two subjects of O'Brien's documentary on Sunday and Monday.
The full transcript of Brooke Baldwin's interview of Constance McMillen from Tuesday's Newsroom:
BALDWIN: Schoolwork, prom, graduation- you know, it's the stuff most high school seniors think about, but 18-year-old Constance McMillan will be talking about it- oh, with- oh, the president of the United States. Why? Well, she sparked that national firestorm when she tried to take her girlfriend to prom, prompting her school to cancel the dance. She is joining us live this morning from Washington, and Constance, good morning to you. Listen, I appreciate you taking a little time and talking to me before your big night with the President. Good morning.
CONSTANCE MCMILLEN: Good morning.
BALDWIN: Let me first ask you, when you look at everything that's happened since the story broke- it really broke- nationwide, you are meeting with the President. You're going to be a grand marshal of the New York gay pride parade coming up. But would you trade that all in if you could have gone to the regular prom with the rest of your classmates?
MCMILLEN: No, because if I had gone to the regular prom with the rest of my classmates, then I would not have been able to bring my girlfriend, and I wouldn't have been able to be myself. So- and that was the whole point. Like, I wasn't going to be able to go if I wasn't going to be able to be myself.
BALDWIN: Now, we know that the court eventually ruled - they said, absolutely, that the school violated your constitutional rights. And I want you to explain, though, what happened, because you transferred schools, right, late in your senior year? Why did do you that?
MCMILLEN: Well, I started- like, doing my work from home because it was- like, it was really hard for me to go to that school because of how the people were treating me. It was just really hard for me to finish school there. So I-
BALDWIN: What were they doing? What were they saying to you?
MCMILLEN: I mean, it was- like, it was hostile all the time. There were rumors flying around about me. Every single day, I heard a new rumor and- like, it was just- it was really, really hard to concentrate in an environment where everybody 's like- being really mean. (laughs) So, I decided to do my work from home, but it got really hard because some of the work that I had to do, I couldn't do if I wasn't in the class.
BALDWIN: Right.
MCMILLEN: So that's why I transferred schools.
BALDWIN: So you transferred schools, and I can only imagine- it's the end of your senior year, where you can't walk with the rest of your classmates, right? Maybe you wouldn't have wanted to. But I understand that at graduation day, normally a happy day for a lot of us- it was pretty tearful for you. Why was that?
MCMILLEN: Well, it was like- I mean, I really didn't- I didn't want to walk, but I did for my parents. But it was really hard because- like, after everything I've been through- like, it was just reminding me, really, that a lot of the people that I used to have that were good friends- like, I don't have those friends anymore and- I mean, I was- I didn't know most- I mean, the classmates- the school was wonderful. But- like, I didn't know a lot of the people there-
BALDWIN: Right.
MCMILLEN: And so, I was just kind of standing there.
BALDWIN: Right.
MCMILLEN: It was just- it was really hard because it wasn't-
BALDWIN: Constance- go ahead- finish your thought.
MCMILLEN: It wasn't how I pictured graduation, so it was just- like, a little hard. (laughs)
BALDWIN: Well, I understand you're going on to college. Before I let you go, for people who are watching and watched your story the past few months, what message- what have you taken away from this, and what message might you have for- maybe, some other teens who are suffering in silence?
MCMILLEN: I've learned through all of this how important it is to be an activist and how important it is to- like, stand up for yourself, because that was never my intention to start with. But- like now that I've been around and met all these people, I've learned how important it is. I've heard so many horror stories- so many people that go through just terrible things just because they're gay. And- you know, if you're going through something like that, I think you should stand up for yourself because- like, it was hard for me. I'm not going to say it wasn't hard because it was. But I went through it so that nobody else would have to go through it, and I think that if you can do something like that and change it for a lot of other people, even though it's hard on you, I think you should do that.
BALDWIN: Constance McMillen, thank you, ma'am, for sharing your story with us this morning. Hey, good luck with the President tonight. It's a pretty nice house he's got.
MCMILLEN: Yeah.
BALDWIN: And thanks for sharing your story. Good luck with college.
MCMILLEN: All right.
