Fresno High senior Cinthia Covarrubias made history when she managed to get the district to overturn a regulation that required prom royalty to adhere to gender restrictions. Covarrubias came out as transgendered her freshman year, and she wanted to run for prom king because that's what makes sense for her. So she made it happen.
Cinthia's quest for prom king status met with mixed reactions from classmates and adults. While many people were very supportive of Cinthia's goal to reverse the district's rules and earn the right to run alongside the biological males as a prom king candidate, some people just weren't quite ready to make the leap to the 21st century. One classmate called Cinthia's campaign "creepy" while a parent—someone who is presumably responsible for teaching her own children how to treat other people—wondered how Cinthia could be so insensitive as to put other people in the awkward position of having to accept her for who she is. That mother, Deana Giles, actually said the following: "The world is getting too politically correct" and "There's a time and a place to make a stand...this isn't it." Translation: People who aren't like me should just shut up. A lovely sentiment, no?
Cinthia wasn't elected prom king, but this is a huge win for GLBT teens everywhere, anyway. And also for any kid who feels marginalized.
(Author's note: After sitting around playing with pronouns for a while, I ended up following the Associated Press's lead and using "she" to refer to Cinthia. In no way is this meant to denigrate Cinthia's gender identity.)
