Nineteen-year-old Florida high schooler Omar Bonilla was one of three finalists for prom queen at Flanagan High in Pembroke Pines. And in Constance McMillen-esque maneuver to keep him from attending prom as his drag persona Allison Rodriguez, the school suspended him for two days for illegally parking in a visitor’s parking space. Bonilla won the title of prom queen anyway by attending Pridelines a local gay prom. Afterward, his parents rewarded him by disowning him.
Bonilla’s not the first teen to get booted from his family for being gay at prom. The high school says they told Bonilla not to wear a dress to prom out of concern for his, ahem, safety.
James_In_Cambridge
All these terrible anti-gay stories coming out of Florida! Why is Florida so homophobic? Does it not realize that it’s the penis of America (and Alabama, appropriately, is the taint).
james_from_the_great_city_of_cambridge
Why is Florida so homophobic? Does it not realize it’s America’s very hung penis? (and Alabama is, of course, America’s taint.)
Dawson
When will parents learn that no matter what your child has done or will do it is your duty to support them in anything and everything they desire to do with their life. I can not believe a family member can that easily disown another family member. Its just not right. Its beyond sad. Family SHOULD be about doing things to piss your relatives off and still have them by your side in the end.
Giovannidude
The sad truth is that some parents just aren’t into unconditional love for their children.
Just like some high schools aren’t into following the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
AlwaysGay
I bet Omar Bonilla’s heterosexual parents would be on the news pleading with the public that he is a good kid if he was heterosexual and murdered someone. This is heterosexual supremacist ideologies in action, folks. The school outcast Omar because he is gay and refused to go along with the heterosexual supremacist status quo just like Constance McMillen. Omar’s family outcast him for the same reason. Heterosexuals have always threatened gay people with the ultimatium be heterosexual or else. Gay people need to challenge it in every area.
Lanjier
Omar, stay strong. We all watch people like you and hope and pray for well-being all of the time. As bad as any day is –remember — tomorrow is always new.
Fitz
I have seen far too many young men (in my work) who have been kicked out of home and ended up around the most dangerous people and the most dangerous situations. You take an at-risk kid and increase his risk. Well, frankly– my family values are more developed than that. Omar is obviously tough as nails, and he will be fine. I hope he surrounds himself with caring and supportive people and avoids the jerks and exploiters. Good luck kid! You are a powerhouse!
jeffree
Omar/ Allison: Stay brave, fierce & strong. regardless of where u live contact any agencies that serve LGBT youth & you’ll sooner than later find people willing to help you get housing/ education/ & counselling if .you need it.
You don’t deserve to be ostracized by family or school, but the world isnt always fair.
Please do not allow the streets to become your home– there are way better options. You deserve a full life as you are, not with strings or conditions attached.
Cyberhug from Jeffree
Andy
@AlwaysGay: Fight the fascist heterosexual orthodoxy!
Chris
It’s sad that they would love him more if he was straight and beating the shit out of his wife and raping his kids. Just like how jailed straight criminals can get married – but WE can’t. Such twisted hypocrisy. What a fucking world.
JoeyB
Being gay has nothing to do with dressing up as a woman. Or does it? I am getting kind of tired of all these gay boys suddenly deciding they want to go to prom dressed as girls, knowing the consequences of this. It’s like they are doing it deliberately to call attention. Now this guy Bonilla graduates, and his picture as a girl, and the whole controversy surrounding him, has been plastered on newspapers. Does anyone really, honestly, think that a future employer is going to hire this person? Where are the real gay role models that can offer counseling and better decision-making? He will probably end up working at Sally’s Beauty Supply, Burger King or doing porn.
Fitz
@JoeyB: 1) some of us who make hiring decisions don’t care if someone puts on a dress, or did so when they were 16. 2) Who knows what putting on a dress has to do with his sexuality. he is 16. Don’t you remember 16? It’s a time of rapid, crazy, bi-polar moods mixed with hormones, pressure, shifting allegiances, insecurity and arrogance. and 3) It’s only the beginning of his test, but so far his ability to withstand this kind of scrutiny makes him very desirable to the right school or the right employer.
CountMeOut
@Fitz: He is not 16.
JoeyB
@Fitz: Oh really? How many people have you hired who have been wearing dresses and been caught in controversies such as this? I find it ludicrous that instead of offering advice to this young man, you would be defending the mess he’s in. No wonder there are no gay role models.
Fitz
@JoeyB: Are you joking? Do you think that your perspective is good role model behavior? I don’t need to defend the mess he is in– because it isn’t his mess. He’s a kid who wore a dress. Big fucking deal. The only thing he did wrong was park in the visitor parking. Employment: I’ve never had a male applicant to this place who was wearing a dress— but I also am pretty sure that I have never asked anyone what they wore to prom. I do know that I work really hard to recruit staff who are bold and who know how to overcome small-mindedness.
missanthrope
Gay or straight, I don’t care, if someone wants to wear a dress to the prom they should be able too. The only thing they’re harming is the fragile sensibilities of pearl-clutching homophobes and their enablers. Omar wore a dress to the prom, and guess what the world still hasn’t exploded.
lolz @ joey and his internalized homophobia, victim blaming in throwing out a bunch of homophobic stereotypes. Are all of these imaginary “gay role models” all “straigh-acting” guy’s guys who look like they just stepped off the cover of a A&F catalog?
Omar is someone we should be looking up at, he has more bravery than any conservaqueer ever will.
Delphi L.
On March 2010, AFTER being hired for my skills, I was terminated for the first time AFTER “quitting” work and not calling in, which occurred AFTER acute stress, which occurred AFTER my supervisor became concerned for my “SAFETY” only AFTER I informed him that I was a transgender female AFTER he asked me if I was wearing makeup which occurred AFTER a false “complaint” from a coworker AFTER she pretended to ask me inquisitive questions about gender transition. Sorry for the run-on sentence but unfortunately illegal phobia against gender transitioning/expressing American citizens is dealt with using the catch-all SAFETY euphemism.
You see, knowing their is no legal basis to terminate a transgender employee, these most evil of persons with no ounce of tolerance in their hearts, make gender transition an issue of acute liability by dehumanizing the person and declaring him/her as a SAFETY hazard. Of course clearly being intolerant itself is a SAFETY hazard as masking phobia with the “S” word is a self-declaration of loathing which comes from hate with has too-often lead to the murder of gay or transgender citizens.
After being hired as a security officer at Victor Valley Comm. Hospital, I was fired for my gender. Not directly of course, but indirectly as I prefaced this commentary. Even though I gave them an excuse to terminate me, so far their in-your-face HR discriminatory meeting I had to endure, DESPITE MY ID SHOWING MY GENDER AS FEMALE, has not been held to account. No one seems to care enough to actually assist me not in necessarily defending my termination but in taking the offensive and holding them accountable for their gender discrimination in a “gender-protected” state as CA where I reside. I am acutely aware, however, of where we sit in the timeline. A period of acceptance, regardless of civil rights battle, is always preceded by those of us who are willing to be sacrifice hitters for the “team.”
So, Omar, thank you for your bravery despite your youth. History will show that it was we who stood up to be counted, knowing full well the costs, were trailblazers for our LGBT brothers and sisters. We are point men in this battle for the right to be us so that one day we can be HIRED FOR OUR SKILLS AND RETAINED DESPITE OUR GENDER!