LOS ANGELES — Vice Magazine has published a followup to XBIZ's exclusive June 2019 interview with Nicole Gililland, the Oregon nursing student who sued her school alleging that they had discriminated against her when they learned of her porn past.
As XBIZ revealed last June, Gililland performed briefly in the mainstream adult industry under the name Bree Barrett for less than two years, around 20 months between 2007 and 2009.
In 2018, Gililland claims, she was forced to drop out from an Oregon nursing program after school authorities were told of her adult industry past.
She then sued the school under Title IX, alleging that since most sex workers are female, hers was a case of discrimination on the basis of her gender.
Sex workers, one of the oldest historically marginalized communities, have no formal protection against workplace or educational discrimination in the U.S.
The Vice Magazine piece, written by freelancer Glyn Peterson, is titled "'Be Careful Who You Treat Like Shit': A Former Porn Star Sues her School."
Gililland spoke with Vice about her experiences fighting the educational and social welfare systems of Coos Bay, Oregon, and her relentless pursuit of justice. She is currently living in her birth state of Utah and switched career goals to pursue a pre-law degree.
Gililland explained that her experiences and frustrations have only hardened her resolve, helped her come to terms with her years performing as Bree Barrett, and have given her a sense of purpose as an activist for sex worker rights.
"Stigma tells sex workers that they're not worth anything, and I want my lawsuit to be a wake-up call," she told Vice. "This is what I want it to illuminate as if on a neon billboard: be careful who you treat like shit."
To read the new profile, visit the Vice website.
To read last June's XBIZ report, "A Modern Day Scarlet Letter: How Porn Stigma Almost Claimed the Life of a Nursing Student," click here.
