HOUSTON — A Houston-area high school is the latest to crown a transgender teen as homecoming royalty.
Mel Gonzales, a transgender student at Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land, Texas, was crowned Homecoming King in mid September.
Gonzales tells Project Q Houston that winning the crown proves that acceptance is growing for people who identify “outside of the gender binary.”
Days before the announcement of his win, Gonzales had written a message for his classmates on social media. It read:
“I never wanted to make it as (homecoming king) a popularity contest. Rather, I wanted to prove that an openly transgender male could make court. I don’t want to be just your homecoming king — I want to be your female-to-male homecoming king.
“It may not be a big deal to you, but this is for my LGBT community, for my Gay-Straight Alliance, and for my underdogs who don’t get enough representation. You are capable, so always keep at it.”
On the same weekend, Scarlett Lenh, a transgender student at Sand Creek High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., was crowned homecoming princess after receiving the majority of the votes from her junior class, besting three other girls for the honor.
Gonzales and Lenh follow a similar landmark win last spring by Charlotte’s Blake Brockington, who was crowned homecoming king at East Mecklenburg High School.
Read an interview with Gonzales at Project Q Houston at bit.ly/1o9zxtM and read more about Brockington at goqnotes-launch2.newspackstaging.com/27414/. : :
— LGBTQ Nation (lgbtqnation.com), a qnotes news partner.
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