HOUSTON — A Houston-area high school is the latest to crown a transgender teen as homecoming royalty.
Mel Gonzales, a transgender student at at Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land, Texas, was crowned Homecoming King last week.
Gonzales tells Project Q Houston that winning the crown proves that acceptance is growing for people who identify “outside of the gender binary.”
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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 make 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.”
Also last 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.
Earlier this year, Blake Brockington, a 17-year-old senior at East Meck High School in North Carolina became his state’s first transgender teen to be crowned Homecoming King.
