Man won’t be allowed to be prom queen at Park
A http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3693 could still get crowned king.
School officials have said they won’t allow Uriel Gomez, 18, to stay on the girls’ ballot for prom court, which could have put him in the running for queen.
Park students started voting for prom court early this week. With a little encouragement from Gomez and his friends, he ended up getting enough votes to get on the girls’ ballot.
Classmates had nominated Gomez for prom king, too. He might have to http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3748 for a crown instead of a tiara.
On Friday, school officials said his name will not be allowed on the girls’ side of the ballot. “Right now it’s kind of confusing. All I know right now is, I’m on the guys’ side,” Gomez said.Gomez, a senior at Park, insists the push to keep his name on the list of senior girls who might be chosen prom queen has nothing to do with grabbing “15 minutes of fame.”
When Gomez learned he had enough votes that he might get elected to the prom
court — on both the boys’ and girls’ sides — he asked a teacher if he could stay on the girls’ side.
The teacher told Gomez, and his friend Matthew Harris, to talk with Jim Kerkvliet, the school’s activities director.
Park officials weren’t thrilled with the idea that Gomez wanted to run for prom queen, regardless of his reasoning.
A former high school football star recently donned a skirt as a joke during a homecoming contest. Gomez didn’t see any difference. School officials did.
“The school is standing with the regular policy,” Kerkvliet said. “It’s the same for everything. Boys are boys. Girls are girls.”
Gomez, who is gay, said that isn’t the biggest reason why he asked to stay in the running for prom queen. He was never really given a good reason why he couldn’t, he said. If his classmates voted for him, why not, he figured. Friends agreed.
Whether school officials change their stance, Gomez has support from friends and classmates.
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