Nicole Gililland’s case could be the first of its kind: a win for sex workers who are discriminated against at school and work.
When Nicole Gililland heard the jury’s decision, as she stood in the federal courthouse in Eugene, Oregon, she started to silently sob.
“My tears were filling up my mask,” she said. “I was worried I was gonna drown myself.” Frozen in the moment, she felt overwhelmed with gratitude.
Gililland sued Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC) for breach of contract as a student paying tuition, and for violating Title IX, the civil rights law that forbids schools that receive federal funding from discriminating against students based on their sex. The jury found that while Title IX didn’t apply, the breach of contract did—and on July 7, 2022, it awarded Gililland $1.7 million in damages.
According to the lawsuit and Gililland’s claims, Melissa Sperry, a nursing instructor and academic advisor, heard about Gililland’s past in the adult industry and singled her out for it, including giving her assignments that other students didn’t have, docking her grades for lateness after being told she’d received accommodation to recover from a serious illness, changing other instructors’ passing grades on her work to failing, and accusing her of plagiarism.
The decision marks the end of a four-year legal battle between herself and her former college in Coos Bay, where she was pursuing a nursing degree. The college and its instructors, she claimed, discriminated against her because of her history of working as a porn performer 10 years before she enrolled there.
At one point, Gililland claims, Sperry said to her, “Unclassy women shouldn’t be nurses, Nicole.”
The jury found that the college had breached its contract by violating its non-discrimination policy, education records policy, and its policy on unlawful harassment.
The harassment and gaslighting Gililland endured at the school drove Gililland to attempt suicide in 2018. When she recovered, she resolved to get justice—and now that it’s finally served, she has her sights set on interrogating the entire system that failed her in the first place.
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When Nicole Gililland heard the jury’s decision, as she stood in the federal courthouse in Eugene, Oregon, she started to silently sob.
“My tears were filling up my mask,” she said. “I was worried I was gonna drown myself.” Frozen in the moment, she felt overwhelmed with gratitude.
Gililland sued Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC) for breach of contract as a student paying tuition, and for violating Title IX, the civil rights law that forbids schools that receive federal funding from discriminating against students based on their sex. The jury found that while Title IX didn’t apply, the breach of contract did—and on July 7, 2022, it awarded Gililland $1.7 million in damages.
According to the lawsuit and Gililland’s claims, Melissa Sperry, a nursing instructor and academic advisor, heard about Gililland’s past in the adult industry and singled her out for it, including giving her assignments that other students didn’t have, docking her grades for lateness after being told she’d received accommodation to recover from a serious illness, changing other instructors’ passing grades on her work to failing, and accusing her of plagiarism.
The decision marks the end of a four-year legal battle between herself and her former college in Coos Bay, where she was pursuing a nursing degree. The college and its instructors, she claimed, discriminated against her because of her history of working as a porn performer 10 years before she enrolled there.
At one point, Gililland claims, Sperry said to her, “Unclassy women shouldn’t be nurses, Nicole.”
The jury found that the college had breached its contract by violating its non-discrimination policy, education records policy, and its policy on unlawful harassment.
SWOCC’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The harassment and gaslighting Gililland endured at the school drove Gililland to attempt suicide in 2018. When she recovered, she resolved to get justice—and now that it’s finally served, she has her sights set on interrogating the entire system that failed her in the first place.
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How a Former Porn Performer Sued Her School for Discrimination—and Won
Nicole Gililland’s case could be the first of its kind: a win for sex workers who are discriminated against at school and work.
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