November 26, 2007
Trans Student is Homecoming King
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
One transgender college student is King of the hill--and Homecoming--in Pasadena this month.
The Pasadena Star News published a stoy on nov. 24 (www.pasadenastarnews.com/search/ci-7550968) about how Andrew Gomez ran for the title of Homecoming King with the idea of bolstering his fellow GLBT students at Pasadena City College.
Gomez won the title, but only after nearly being disqualified... not opn account of gender, but because of a pierced ear.
The student body rallied, however, declaring that if the result of the election were not honored it would be discrimination. In the end, Gonez took the crown.
Gomez, 24, said, "I wanted [other GLBT people] to feel like they could do something like this, instead of having them feel, `I am not straight so I can't do this,"' according to the Star News article.
Though he is honored as the College's King, Gomez is only beginning his transition from female to male. The article stated that Gomez intends to undergo surgery, but settles, for now, for a short haircut and bandaging his almost-flat chest even flatter.
Gomez may have been accepted y his peers at school, but coming out to his family was tougher.
It was only shortly before winning the title of Homecoming King that Gomz told his mother of his plan to transition to male. Said Gomez in the article, "I was prepared to pack my bags, because I wasn't going to stay there if she wasn't going to support me."
But according to the story, his mother already knew (as mothers do); it has been hard for her, but what made her mad, the story said, was that it took Gomez so long to tell her.
Said Gomez, "It is going to take a long time for her to use the male pronoun."
College friends and faculty immediately embraced Gomez when he asked them to start calling him Andrew. The article said that Gomez announced his intention to transition on Facebook last summer, and friends wrote to him right away to wish him well.
Gomez recollected, "It was just amazing."
The story cited Brian Kraemer, who leads a local chapter of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), as saying that since Gomez' victory, more transgender people are coming to meetings, and bringing family members along.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
