In Fresno, a transgender student runs for prom king

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 6:07pm

When school officials announce the name of the Fresno High School prom king on Saturday, Cinthia Covarrubias will be wearing a tuxedo just like the six boys vying for the honor.


School officials this week added the 17-year-old's name to the ballot for prom king, reversing a previous district policy that allowed only males to run for king and females for prom queen.


Gay youth advocates called it a landmark victory for campus gender expression and said they believe it's the first time in the U.S. that an openly transgender student has run for prom royalty.


Covarrubias, who wears black-and-white Vans, baggy shorts and close-cropped brown hair, sometimes identifies herself as Tony. Her date, a close female friend, plans to wear a black dress and red corsage to the prom at an outdoor reception hall surrounded by man-made waterfalls.


"I would never have run for anything if I had to wear a dress," Covarrubias said.


She considers herself transgender, an umbrella term that covers all people whose outward appearance and internal identity don't match their gender at birth.


"My freshman year I just started feeling different," she said. "When I decided to change to be like this, all of a sudden I said, 'Wow, I feel OK. I feel like finally I'm being me.'"


She has no current plans, however, to permanently alter her gender through hormones or surgery.


A native of Jalisco, Mexico, Covarrubias said she has bucked rigid expectations of how a girl in her culture should behave. Explaining the meaning of terms like "queer" and "transgender" to her parents and eight siblings has at times been painful, she said.


Covarrubias said she was honored her classmates nominated her for prom king last Friday, but administrators quickly dampened her enthusiasm by saying she could only run for queen.


Tiffani Sanchez, a science teacher who advises the school's Gay-Straight Alliance, complained.


"Cinthia is still really learning who she is," she said. "We want her to know that there's a safe space for her here and we support her."


On Wednesday, school officials shifted course, saying the district's lawyers had recommended adding Covarrubias' name to the ballot to comply with a state law protecting students' ability to express their gender identity on campus.


"We always want to do the right thing by our students," Vice Principal Sheila Uriarte said. "This is why we came to this decision."


The law, passed in 2000, requires schools to protect students from discrimination on the basis of their sexuality, gender or "gender expression."


Gay and lesbian advocates say that means creating a comfortable environment for students like Covarrubias to cross-dress.


"It's really important for an individual student like Cinthia to be able to feel she has the same access to participate in this rite of passage," said Caroyln Laub, director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network. "We are growing as a society to accept much more diversity in gender expression, and that's a positive thing."


Some students criticized the decision to put Covarrubias on the ballot.


"I like lesbians, but they shouldn't be allowed to run for king," said senior Erich Logan, 18, as he stood outside the stately high school building.


landmark victory for campus gender expression

[ABSteel]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 6:10pm

""I like lesbians, but they shouldn't be allowed to run for king," said senior Erich Logan,"

Who said anything about her being a lesbian?

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 6:17pm

First...

Raisins

then...

Kirk Kerkorian

then...

Audra McDonald

now this!

Fresno just may be the center of the Universe.

[ABSteel]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 6:18pm

Yummy!

Who?

Love her!

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 6:20pm

at my old high school we didn't pick form only a few people, we did write-in votes for whoever we wanted. so many people voted for this kid giovanni for prom queen that they named him an honarary prom queen.
but since it was write-in voted he didn't technically "run" for anything, he was just voted.
he wore his tiara for like a week after the prom.

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 6:20pm

Here goes, Sweetie

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/54/NINP.html

[ABSteel]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 6:26pm

10 BILLION!

Oh my...

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 6:29pm

this is great news. good for him for standing up for himself. and, yes, it would seem that he is a heterosexual male who happens to have been born in a female body. people get very confused about this.

[ABSteel]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 6:30pm

Transgender does not equal gay!

Duh!

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 7:01pm

'Transgender does not equal gay! '

but just as fabulous! :)

[ABSteel]

Posted: 4/20/07 at 7:04pm

Amen to that!