ENTERTAINMENT: ABC Family developing film about Constance McMillen!

The story of brave Mississippi lesbian high school student Constance McMillen, who successfully sued the local school district for discrimination when she was banned from her prom, – will become a TV movie for ABC Family, Deadline Hollywood reports.

The project is in early stages of development and is from producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Hairspray, Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story) and Sony Pictures TV who have optioned the rights to McMillen’s story.

Ghost Whisperer creator and executive producer John Gray will write the script and is expected to direct.

With that talent aboard, it should be a good movie. The story has a strong heroine in Constance but the villains in her town are many: Her Mississippi school decided to cancel the prom for everyone rather than have a lesbian couple on the dance floor. Then parents threw a private prom and did not include Constance.

But Constance has the last laugh. Her case quickly drew nationwide attention and she ended up receiving a $30,000 scholarship from Ellen DeGeneres, serving as a grand marshal for New York’s Gay Pride Parade, and was personally asked by Wanda Sykes to present her GLAAD Award.

The teen also attending a reception at the White House hosted by President Barack Obama and recently won a $35,000 settlement in the lawsuit against her school district, with the district agreeing to follow a non-discrimination policy.