Education

Thrill of victory, agony of defeat for transgender homecoming candidates

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The results are in for the two transgender high school kids who ran for king and queen this homecoming season.

One transgender student, biologically female Kasey Caron, fought the school board for the right to run for Richland High School homecoming king in Johnstown, Pa.

Caron lost that fight.

“I am officially on court, but on court as a female,” Caron told local NBC affiliate WJAC-TV.

“It was disappointing,” the senior explained. “My heart sunk a little.”

In making her argument for why she should be eligible to become homecoming king, Caron had relied heavily on her driver’s license, which used to indicate her gender as female but now indicates it as male.

The school board seemed to take a more empirical approach, observing that Caron’s birth certificate does not list Caron as a male, and noting that Caron has not undergone any sort of sex-change surgery.

Caron identifies as male and is currently in some undetermined early stage of gender reassignment surgery.

Caron’s friends were outraged about the result.

“It’s really a betrayal of our community,” an unnamed student told WJAC.

Caron’s family, which includes two mothers, one father, some siblings and a transgender godmother, remains very supportive.

“I love my son and my son is the most awesome,” Kathy Caron told the station. “I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Meanwhile, in Huntington Beach, Calif., the other transgender student running for homecoming royalty, biologically male Cassidy Lynn Campbell fared better. Not only was Campbell able to get on the homecoming queen ballot, he also took home the tiara.

The victory has been both the best of times and the worst of times for Marina High School’s first transgender homecoming queen.

After his historic victory, the dramatic student took to YouTube for an emotional rant lasting nearly nine minutes. He wore his silver tiara and yellow-trimmed homecoming sash for the video, which is entitled “i should be so happy…”

Campbell’s main complaint was that he felt emotionally wounded by criticism and sometimes vile comments on social media sites after he was named homecoming queen.

According to the Los Angeles Times, which apparently forced someone to watch the interminable video in its entirety, Campbell announced that he had contemplated “going back to being miserable.” He said he may “just be a boy and hate myself again.”

In happier times before the YouTube meltdown, Campbell had told the Times that he had hoped his homecoming victory would be an important milestone for transgender rights. He also noted that students and administrators had been very supportive.

Before winning, Campbell had explained that he was born with various male appendages but knew that he was actually a girl even when he was very young. Back then, Campbell was going by his given name, Lance. He picked up the moniker Cassidy Lynn three years ago. (RELATED: Transgender high schoolers running for homecoming king, queen, whatever)

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