Andy Moreno, an 18-year-old Texas high school senior, wants to run for homecoming queen. Born a boy, Andy dresses in women’s clothing and identifies as transgender girl. But after some friends nominated her to run for the crown, the principal warned Andy such a contest would be unacceptable. North Dallas High School principal Dinnah Escanilla told Andy she should run for homecoming king instead, because of the anatomy that exists between her legs. No, says Andy: “I don’t feel comfortable with [that suggestion] because I identify myself as a woman and not as a male, and a king is a male.” Moreover, the Dallas Independent School District, which trumpets its anti-harassment policies, has no rules regarding the sex of kings and queens.
Moreno says the homecoming crown contest was never about making a statement — until administrators tried shutting him down. And now, says Andy, it is about standing up for trans rights, though she understands where Principal Escanilla (pictured, right) is coming from: It’s her first year on the job, and she probably doesn’t want to ruffle feathers. Uh, mission not accomplished. (Escanilla has made her email address public: [email protected].)
Bravo to Andy’s family, meanwhile: Andy’s mom Maria and sister Daisy are standing behind her.
Homecoming winners will be announced Monday. Good luck!
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Rick
So why the male pronouns?
EdWoody
Will you fucking make your minds up whether you’re going to call Andy a “he” (wrong) or a “she” (right)? Do you even realise how you’re a) a laughing stock, and b) part of the problem?
JNunz
@EdWoody: 100% agreed. It is mighty troubling that a blog reporting on GLBT news and issues cannot get even the simplest things right. Am I the only one who can imagine O’Reilly reading this verbatim on his show and not thinking anything of it?
Deirdre
Dear Ryan Tedder,
Did you even watch the video?? She uses female pronouns!
Even Fox got it right!
Dear Queerty,
When are you going to educate your writers about trans etiquette??
Syl
@EdWoody: Queerty is full of transphobic gays and never runs shit by a proofreader. What else is new?
Michael
I did know transexual meant chaning gender between paragraphs.
Edward
I like how the news said that the principal wants people to run for queen or king based on gender… clearly her gender identity is female… Epic fail principal…
maxpower
Sent the principal an email, shame on her.
j
This headline made absolutely no sense until I reached the question mark, it makes for really awkward reading. Gone are the days when headlines where short and snappy I guess.
Tim
Odd that this is getting picked up for coverage, but the one about Oak Reed in Michigan was passed over. What gives?
Ogre Magi
MMMM, She is a tasty little number!
missanthrope
“Odd that this is getting picked up for coverage, but the one about Oak Reed in Michigan was passed over. What gives?”
I heard that the trans guy in that case asked his friends stop contacting media because he doesn’t want his face splashed all over the media. A little too late for that I guess.
edgyguy1426
@JNunz: This happened before with Chaz Bono. I think Queerty is kinda trans-phobic.
REVEMUPMAN
(Off subject)
I must say that is a nice looking man/girl.
missanthrope
“I must say that is a nice looking man/girl.”
Can we cut it out with the mis-gendering? She identifies as women, address her as one. Okay?
REVEMUPMAN
@missanthrope
So what, if I’m ackowledging her as a trans-gender then I’m wrong? She is trans gender, you can’t take this out of FACT! And I think I was giving her a complement cause a lot of trannys I know don’t make the cut.
In order for her to be fully woman she must be born with the gender. She was not, point done subject finished. I’m not degrading her or even saying hate speech. I was simply giving credit where its do. A lot of men can’t pull it off like her.
REVEMUPMAN
If I told you the sky was yellow would you vilify me for knowing that its blue?
Facts are facts, and facts can never be erased.
Chris H
@REVEMUPMAN: Then call her a trans-woman you dumb fuck if you are so adamant about retaining her trans status.
Your identity as a person doesn’t depend on what color you think the sky is. However, your person does depend on the gender you identify as. No one asks you on a driver’s license form or your tax returns what color you think the sky is.
Quit with the fallacy of false equality.
REVEMUPMAN
Chris H I’m beginning to think your stalking me?
REVEMUPMAN
Like I said, facts can never be erased. I can believe I’m a Maid in Manhattan but I’m just a young black male.
Please don’t mix equality to WHAT’S FACT!
And the fact is: Subject was born MALE and transitioned to female.
Until I am given any other information that’s where my mind resides.
And I NEVER HATED THIS LADY TO BEGIN WITH! So please stop making me a villain. Although I love to be yours truly.
Chris H
@REVEMUPMAN: And you think I’m stalking you why? Because I happened to respond to several of your posts? Oh yes, stalking you is what twiddles my twinkies. FALSE. Get over yourself.
Chris H
@REVEMUPMAN: Where do the people who don’t fit so neatly into your outdated gender binary go? Are they “male” or “female”? Since you claim chromosomes are your primary factor, what about individuals with XXY (Klinefelter’s) or XYY or XXYY chromosomes, or XY-females (Swyer’s) or XX-males (de la Chapelle’s). I’m sorry, but your simplistic view on gender and sex simply don’t cut it out in the real world where things are a bit more complicated than that.
REVEMUPMAN
LIKE I SAID ABOUT 10 COMMENTS AGO: It doesn’t matter what my outdated gender binary goes.
FACT IS: Subject was BORN WITH MALE GENITALS, then transitioned to female.
Your not getting my point at all. What I personally believe about gender is not even of impotence.
FACTS ARE FACTS, AND FACTS CAN NEVER BE ERASED.
Now shoo along chrissy boy.
REVEMUPMAN
LIKE I SAID ABOUT 10 COMMENTS AGO: It doesn’t matter what my outdated gender binary goes.
FACT IS: Subject was BORN WITH MALE GENITALS, then transitioned to female.
Your not getting my point at all. What I personally believe about gender is not even of importence.
FACTS ARE FACTS, AND FACTS CAN NEVER BE ERASED.
Now shoo along chrissy boy.
Zoe Brain
@Revemupman
You wrote two very different things.
>>And the fact is: Subject was born MALE and transitioned to female.<>FACT IS:Subject was BORN WITH MALE GENITALS, then transitioned to female.<<
As happens very rarely, in some Intersex conditions. 99% of the time, it's the other way round. Born with female genitalia, then transitioned from natural causes to male. Though that's not exactly common.
Which is pretty good if you're male. A nightmare if you're female.
See this court case for an example of the latter:
http://home.vicnet.net.au/%7Eaissg/2010_FamCA_237.pdf
When it comes to the biology, the science of sex and gender – you're a Flat Earther. The earth *is* flat, locally, it's a good approximation. It's only when travelling long distances that the approximation breaks down.
You're taking an approximation, a simplification, and treating it as Holy Writ. Just because. Just like the veriest Fundie.
Zoe Brain
Oh yes – she wasn’t born male. Parts of her physical anatomy were female, and were so long before birth.
“The fetal brain develops during the intrauterine period in the male direction through a direct action of testosterone on the developing nerve cells, or in the female direction through the absence of this hormone surge. In this way, our gender identity (the conviction of belonging to the male or female gender) and sexual orientation are programmed or organized into our brain structures when we are still in the womb. However, since sexual differentiation of the genitals takes place in the first two months of pregnancy and sexual differentiation of the brain starts in the second half of pregnancy, these two processes can be influenced independently, which may result in extreme cases in trans-sexuality. This also means that in the event of ambiguous sex at birth, the degree of masculinization of the genitals may not reflect the degree of masculinization of the brain. There is no indication that social environment after birth has an effect on gender identity or sexual orientation.”
— Sexual Hormones and the Brain: An Essential Alliance for Sexual Identity and Sexual Orientation Garcia-Falgueras A, Swaab DF Endocr Dev. 2010;17:22-35
REVEMUPMAN
WTF is wrong with you people, I simply gave this trans a complement and you turn it into rocket science.
LIKE I KEEP FUCKING SAYING FACTS ARE FACTS. IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT I THINK OR YOU THINK
FACTS CAN’T BE ERASED!!!!! So please save the science for school hrs.
missanthrope
@REVEMUPMAN:
“FACTS CAN’T BE ERASED!!!!! So please save the science for school hrs.”
Wait, aren’t facts usually backed up by scientific evidence? You seem to wandering in to minefield of logical contradictions. I feel bad for you, it must literally physically painful to be this stupid.
Aya
@REVEMUPMAN:
What you don’t seem to understand is that most trans people who you might direct that kind of “compliment” at wouldn’t see it as a compliment, due to your misgendering of them.
Suppose a person A was gay, and another person B told them that they “looked pretty hot for someone confused about who they should love”. Do you really think A would consider that (as a whole) a nice thing to say? Likely not, considering that any potential complimentary effect the first part has would be completely overshadowed by the inherent disrespect of the second part.
That’s exactly what you did. If you truly are well-intentioned and don’t mean to be a bigot, why not simply apologize when people correct you and move on? Instead, you’ve decided that your narrow defintion must obviously be right, and in doing so have made yourself a bigot, whether or not you want to admit it.