Orlando Student Crowned First Transgender Homecoming Queen At Her School Reveals Her Classmates’ Reactions
A well deserved win!
Evan Bialousknia / Instagram A Florida high school crowned homecoming queen is making history at her high school in Orlando.
17-year-old Evan Bialosuknia, a senior at Olympia High School in Orlando, Florida, was elected homecoming queen by her peers but her win had more meaning than the average homecoming queen.
Evan Bialosuknia was the Orlando school's first transgender homecoming queen.
Bialousknia thought that it would be “kind of cool if I ran for homecoming court.” What started off as a fun idea quickly turned into something that could actually happen as she started gaining support from her friends and fellow classmates.
The support also included another student who was running for homecoming king who Bialousknia said supported her on social media.
“I wanted to have that moment of glory,” she said in an interview with WESH2. “It made me feel like I actually belonged. Not just like a joke. Cause that was one of my fears. I was in bed one night like, ‘What if they were just doing this to laugh at me?’”
Bialousknia received her crown on the school’s football field alongside the homecoming king who she said has only ever made her “feel like a girl.”
She posted her win on her Instagram page with the caption “made history.” The high school senior posted a series of photos in her homecoming queen sash, as well as her in the crown.
“Looking back, it doesn’t even feel like that's me,” Bialousknia said. “I played football for like six to eight years, and I remember during practices I would stare at the cheerleaders because I wanted to be with them.”
She only recently came out as trans and is in the first year of living in her true identity. The teen admits that she “still has a long way to go and more change is coming” but she is looking forward to the future, and is pleased with the progress that she has already made.
Other high schools have commited to challenging gender norms when it comes to crowning homecoming kings and queens.
Stiles Zuschlag, a trans teen, was elected homecoming king by his Maine high school in 2017. Brandon Allen, a gay student at a Tennessee high school was elected homecoming royalty, as the school used gender-neutral titles for crowning people in the homecoming court.
The University of Oklahoma also adopted a gender-neutral theme for their 2021 homecoming court, selecting two males for their homecoming royalty.
The student body and faculty selected Justin Norris, who is gay, and Reece Henry, who is straight as their homecoming royalty, getting rid of the usual binary-based titles of king and queen.
In 2019, transgender teenager Charlie Baum was crowned homecoming queen at Forsyth Central High School in Georgia.
She said the honor was especially significant because of the “death threats and plenty of humiliation” from her classmates.
The younger generations are quickly becoming more supportive of people in the LGBTQ community.
Roughly 48% of Gen Z are saying that allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry is a good thing for society, with only 15% saying it’s a bad thing.
“It just made me realize I was not alone and don’t have to go through this alone,” Bialosuknia said. For her, being crowned homecoming queen would hopefully be an inspiration to fellow LGTBQ teens.
"Put yourself out there and present yourself as who you are,” she said. "Just know that you are amazing, and you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it.”
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.