In the Blog
School Officials Sign the Ballot for Trans Prom King
Okay, so Ive been a tad miserable lately given the anti-choice developments that are happening south of the border. Ive wanted to write about them, but everytime I sit down to rant I just feel frustrated and dumbfounded. The undermining of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court has, as Naral Pro-Choice America puts it, the power to interfere even more in our personal, private medical decisions. The Court has given anti-choice state lawmakers the green light to open the flood gates and launch additional attacks on safe, legal abortion, without any regard for womens health.
And so in the spirit of good news, Ive decided to focus on the ground-breaking in a very different respect. I just read a great story about what is believed to be the first transgendered prom king nominee in the United States.
Although 17 year old Cinthia Covarrubias (who occasionally identifies as Tony) did not capture the crown at Fresno High Scool on Saturday night, he was able to reverse a previous school district protocol that allowed only males to run for king and females to run for queen. Tony has no current plans to surgically alter his sex, but stated that he felt more comfortable running for king: I would never have run for anything if I had to wear a dress, Covarrubias said.
The best part of the story is that fellow students nominated Tony for King, and when the officails refused, the districts lawyers recommended adding Covarrubias name to the ballot to comply with a state law protecting students ability to express their gender identity on campus. At least somewhere choice is being maintained.
Student reactions? Its not like the stereotype where the king has to be a jock and hes there with the cheerleaders anymore, said Leanne Reyes, age 16, a senior Fresno High. We live in a generation now where dudes are chicks and chicks are dudes.
Hell ya.
