How about this guy?
Posted on 10/28/2007 3:35:36 PM PDT by mngran2
Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the royalty of Davis Senior High School's junior class: Brandon Raphael and his prince, Kiernan Gatewood. For what appears to be the first time in school history, the Davis Senior High student body has elected a gay couple into homecoming royalty. With each boasting a white sash declaring his title as "Prince," the two 16-year-olds rode through the city of Davis on a recent Friday afternoon in the school's annual homecoming parade.
They stood in the back of a pickup truck, arm-in-arm, smiling warmly despite the rain.
"People were so excited for us," Gatewood said of the couple's victory, announced a few weeks ago. "We were a little surprised, but Davis ..."
"Is a liberal town," interrupts his boyfriend of four months, Raphael. "Go 10 miles in any other direction and you'll get some other feeling."
Indeed, the news might surprise few in Davis, a city embraced and, at times, mocked for its liberal leanings.
But students and adults cheering on the boys recognized their election as a meaningful milestone.
Lai-San Seto, advocacy coordinator for the San Francisco-based Gay-Straight Alliance Network, said the Davis Senior High homecoming election is not the first case of gay students bucking tradition.
But it remains far from the norm, Seto said.
And usually by the time she hears about such things, they've become a controversy within their community.
"It's a sign that LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgenderand queer) people are getting recognized everywhere," she said. "LGBTQ are considered vital members of the school community and are able to participate in school events in the same full way that their straight fellow students are able to." Seto applauded the Davis Senior High student body for their acceptance — and the school administration for being "open-minded."
In the weeks since officials announced the homecoming court, there's been no public outcry — not by campus leaders, not by students and not by the community.
Students said they were encouraged that the election was not an issue for campus administrators. They said they were less surprised that a gay couple would win than they were that officials allowed it to happen.
"I thought the administration would have more to say about it," Raphael said.
Principal Michael Cawley declined to comment on the boys' election, saying only that he hoped to keep the issue "low-key."
Students, however, were eager to talk. They piled atop floats and lined the parade route to show their school spirit, armed with air horns and fistfuls of candy.
Some have been celebrating their friends' landmark victory for days.
"I think it's just such a good thing for our school. Just knowing that the other kids recognize them as a couple and would vote for a gay couple to be prince and prince of homecoming. ... I don't know, I just think it's awesome," said senior Chandler Fox, co-president of the campus Gay-Straight Alliance. "I want people to know about it so maybe it can happen at another school."
Decked out in Davis Senior High's colors of blue and black, sophomore Charlotte ter Haar and two friends agreed that the election was significant because it came straight from the students — Raphael and Gatewood won in a write-in ballot election.
Couples could campaign for their class titles — king and queen for seniors, prince and prince(ss?) for juniors, etc. — but no names appeared on the ballot. Students wrote in their own candidates.
"The students voted for who they wanted to win," ter Haar said.
Parent Lorna Bernard said she was taken aback by the news — only because in her day, a gay couple stood to be harassed by their peers, not elected.
But Raphael and Gatewood, she said, are "not just accepted, they're popular — popular enough to be elected as homecoming princes."
And that, she said, is "really cool."
As for the boys, they said they campaigned hard in anticipation of the election. But their goal, they said, was not to make a political statement.
"We wanted to be nominated and win," Raphael said.
Added Gatewood: "Just like anybody else."
Princes? Hardly, more like a couple of Queens.
Sure there are, but I don't see them getting arrested for having sex in childrens parks and public bathrooms or interstate rest stops on a regular basis either, or using them as pick up joints for anonymous sex.
The percentage visiting swing clubs vs the percentage visiting bath houses is also grotesquely different.
And lets not even get into bug chasers and the like...
Homosexuality is a mental disorder.
“Thus, all Straight Homecoming Couples could only be called straight if they in fact have had sex.”
That’s a real doggy argument, Trumandogz. What if the homecoming king & queen were both believers in pre-marital chastity? Sex not being acceptable to them (as unmarried students), would that make them unfit for the positions of homecoming king and queen?
Not so now, not at all. If anything, I don't see kids today quite getting why it was ever a big deal. My first hand experience with college kids is that the vast majority think older people are off their nut when they try to make an issue out of this.
It simply does not matter to me, not the way other things do. I'm more interested in honesty and whether someone keeps their promises and if they are otherwise a good person - you know, stuff that has the potential to actually affect me.
Excellent point!
I think God owes Sodom and Gomorah an apology. (It was a joke. OK!)
What twisted planet do you live on? I grew up in a military family and moved around in the South and Midwest and have also lived out West and in Alaska and I have NEVER seen a male cheerlesder in high school. Of course, this probably is more common in the liberal cesspools of America. Is that where you are from?
God forbid that you show concern for something that doesn’t affect you.
How about a little empathy for conservative and Christian parents in California who are trying to instill values in their children, only to find the school system has declared war on them?
That should be Cheerleader. I don’t know what the hell a “Cheerlesder” is.
I'm assuming you are being funny, but just in case you aren't: President Bush was a cheerleader his senior year at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Look it up.
Seriously. There are plenty of male cheerleaders. Plenty. Tons. Always have been. To repeat your question: What planet do you live on?
How about this guy?
George Bush was a head cheerleader at Philips.. (but I think it was an all-boys school then).
There's a scene in the film Dodgeball where a male character mentions that he wants to make the cheerleading squad to impress a cute girl. Vince Vaughn remarks that school's certainly changed a lot since he was a kid if the way for a guy to impress a girl is to become a cheerleader. LOL!
I agree, but you forgot Seattle.
That doesn't mean I hate gays, though. I have neighbors who are gay. As far as I can see, they go to work, they pay taxes, they get up on Sunday & go to church. I don't see them as my enemy and never have. I am nice to them, and they are nice to me.
I can find plenty to dislike about the public schools without dragging gay people into it. Plenty.
On January 1, 2008, it will be mandatory to allow this to happen - in fact it will be against the law to discourage it. SB 777
What do you mean? Picking two guys for Homecoming Court?
You are confusing two situations. One is the continued destruction of normal society by homosexuals bent on making everyone kowtow to their lifestyle, and the other is what you do in the privacy of your bedroom.
I agree that having a homosexual Homecoming King and Queen is destructive of a tradition.
I also believe that the govt has every reason to be interested in what you do in your bedroom if it consists of doing minors. Obviously, according to your post, you disagree.
Ok. That is totally an insane comment.
Okay, the Government should not be concerned what “consenting adults” do in their bedroom.
That could be, but women are homosexual men’s best friends and supporters.
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