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Who is Nicole Gililland? Pornstar wins $1.7M from SWOCC for harassment over adult career

Gililland said that she suffered severe emotional distress and even attempted suicide due to repeated harassment

An Oregon jury awarded an ex-pornstar and former nursing student $1.7M after she sued her school for harassment and discrimination. Nicole Gililland, popularly known as Bree Barrett in the adult entertainment industry, was only 30 years old when she enrolled in a nursing program at the Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC) in 2017. She was already working as a paramedic and EMT before that, but as a mom, she felt the need to become a nurse as nursing hours would be more convenient for her. She claims the college discriminated against her after learning of her past in the adult industry. 

Gililland had worked for some major production companies during her porn career that spanned a couple of years from 2007 to 2009. The jury's verdict was announced on Thursday, July 7, awarding Gililland $735,417 in compensation for the economic damage inflicted on her by SWOCC staff, plus $1,000,000 in punitive damages for the ordeal they put her and her young children through.

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Nicole Gililland was awarded the compensation after accusing her local college of using her X-rated movies to discriminate against her. Gililland claimed that she faced repeated harassment and a “hostile education environment” despite fulfilling the entry requirements and being accepted as one of only 28 on the two-year course. She suffered severe emotional distress and even attempted suicide due to it, she said. She then attempted to sue SWOCC for both breach of contract and for violating Title IX, which prohibits schools that receive federal funding from sex-based discrimination.

After a protracted process extended by the school’s reluctance to acknowledge any wrongdoing, Gililland and her lawyers convinced the jury about the merits of her claim. Apparently, in 2017, one of the staffers told her she could not be a nurse because she was an “unclassy woman.” She also claimed that records were altered to make her flunk out of the nursing program where she had been excelling. Gililland, who is now a law student in Massachusetts and has devoted her life to sex workers' rights advocacy, told Xbiz, “This case has involved a lot of serious miscarriages of justice from the beginning”. “Every failsafe to protect me as a citizen and student had failed me," she continued. "This is the first real example of ethics and reason being applied to what has happened, and it has given me a renewed sense of hope in the system.” 

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She expressed her gratitude to a Salt Lake City lawyer named Brandon Mark who took on her case after several attorneys refused. The mom of two tweeted, “A couple of years ago an attorney took my discrimination case after HUNDREDS of other attorneys slammed their doors in my face." "Today, a jury awarded us over 1.7 million dollars. Brandon, thank you for believing in me and for believing in progress.” Mark responded, “You're the superstar. I played but a bit role. Thank you for letting me help you tell your story.”