Watch: Transgender teen voted homecoming queen by her classmates
By Will Stroude
It sounds like something straight out of a feel-good teen movie, but a group of high schoolers in Missouri have helped break down stereotypes and make a huge statement of acceptance after voting a transgender classmate homecoming queen.
The senior class at Oak Park High School in Kansas City crowned the school’s first openly transgender student, Landon Patterson, as their queen on Saturday, after she bravely came out to classmates earlier this year.
Following her victory announcement during the halftime show of one of the school’s American Football matches, Patterson told KCTV5: “I’ve dreamed about it since my freshman year, but I never knew it was possible for me.
“Just knowing that I did this, and that I just broke some barriers, I can’t even put it into words what I’m feeling right now. I’m just excited and hope this is going to help others out there.”
The cheerleader and show choir member was nominated for homecoming queen by her classmates last month, having only come out as transgender in May this year.
“She has so much strength that I just envy. She’s just beautiful and I love her,” Orie Agbaji, another homecoming queen nominee, said.
Patterson’s mother Debbie, who rode alongside her daughter in the school’s Homecoming Parade, added that she would always support her daughter.
“That’s my child. You have to back your children,” she told the station. “The haters out there, I just want to say, ‘What would you say if it was your child?'”
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