Transgender prom queen makes history
(WCMH-TV)
A transgender high school student has been crowned prom queen in a landmark move.
When Nikko Nelson found out that she’d won the contest at Homestead High School in Wisconsin, she said she was shocked.
“My friend was in the hallway and she came up to me and she said: ‘They said you won prom queen,’ and I was like: ‘Are you being serious?’” she said, according to local station WCMH-TV.
(WCMH-TV)
But she dismissed the idea that her win could inspire other trans people, saying that she doesn’t see herself as a pioneer of trans rights.
“I just like to think of myself as a normal person, but at the same time I realize that I do have a different quirk to me,” said Nikko.
“I didn’t win prom queen for being a transgender girl; I won prom queen for being Nikko Nelson.”
(WCMH-TV)
The award comes just a few years after Nikko wore a dress for the first time, to her eighth-grade graduation.
When she realised that she was trans, her family was accepting – after a crash course in what being trans means, courtsey of Nikko herself.
Nikko’s mum explained: “This was before Caitlyn Jenner, this is before everything was in the news and we really didn’t [know much.] Nikko kind of educated us about it.
Nikko’s mum (WCMH-TV)
And she repeated Nikko’s sentiment, saying that “as much as Nikko is a transgender girl, she’s our daughter.”
Earlier this month, PinkNews spoke to a gay couple stopped from running for prom king and king at their school.
Joel Lerner and Carter Hebert, who are both 18, were elected to the royal court at Chattahoochee High School in Atlanta, Georgia.
But the school told them that its procedures prevent them from running to be crowned king and king.
Joel (l) and Carter (r)
This was despite a straight couple who were also elected to the royal court being completely able to run for prom king and queen.
Carter told PinkNews: “We were both on the list of three guy nominees and figured people nominated us as a couple, considering another heterosexual couple was nominated as well.
“So, we decided we should email our administration to see if there was any way we could change the voting just to give us the chance to win.
“We by no means think we are going to win, but we just wanted to be given the opportunity. The administration emailed us back and said they wouldn’t change the voting.
“So we went in to talk to them in person to explain everything from our point of view in hopes of persuading them.”
The school refused, but the couple is continuing talks with authorities in the hopes of creating a more inclusive prom for future students.
