A transgender teen in New Hampshire has been voted Homecoming King by a “landslide” victory at his local high school.
17-year-old Ray Ramsey was elected Homecoming King at Concord High School last weekend.
Cheers erupted from the crowd as he walked over to his dad, who took him by the shoulders, looked him in the eye, and said: “I am so proud of you.”
Ramsey first told his friends and family that he was interested in girls when he was in eighth grade. During his junior year of high school, he came out as transgender.
In an interview with the Valley News, he said that when he first decided he wanted to be called Ray, he was nervous about telling his parents. Instead of telling them face to face, he wrote his dad a note and left it by the coffee pot one morning.
“We were driving home from work one day and he was like, ‘You know you can talk to me about anything, right?’ and I knew that’s when it was coming,” Ramsey recalled.
His dad told him he was okay with Ramsey’s decision, then said he would take him to the doctor and support him in any way possible. Ramsey began talking with his doctors about surgical options last fall.
He is the first transgender student in the history of Concord High School to be crowned Homecoming King.
“It’s a big deal,” Heather Oullette-Cygan, an advisor for the school’s LGBT club, said. “I think it means a lot for our school, it certainly means a lot for the kids in the club and even the LGBT students who aren’t necessarily in the club.”
“He’s just been through a lot, and he’s just a really strong person,” Anna Robert, the homecoming queen and Ramsey’s good friend, added. “When I heard his name called, I was like, ‘I can’t even believe it.'”
Since his win last weekend, Ramsey said that students he doesn’t even know have been offering high fives and congratulating him in the hallways.
The school’s Principal, Gene Connolly, says Ramsey’s win shows the best of what Concord High is and can be.
“Kids here have a heart and they know what’s right, and they love Ray and they support Ray,” he said. “It’s one of the things that really makes this school special.”
Photo credit: The Crimson Review.
Derek Williams
Wonderful story.
Dixie Rect
Not again!
Teleny
I hope the sentiments behind the votes were honest. Congrats to Ray: he’s a real cutie!
Dxley
Dude, are you serious? This shit ain’t in any way connected to gay people. I thought this was QUEERty, not TRANSGENDERty. They need their own group and I’m sure @Dixie Rect agrees.
TheNewEnergyDude
First off, major kudos to Ray’s dad. It’s a great reflection of you. And your wonderful parenting skills to show such support to a brave and strong willed young man!
Second, major kudos to you, Ray! You rock! And congratulations on the win!!
And finally, to Dxley. there is a reason it is termed LBGTQ. Our group, of all groups, should learn to be more sympathetic of our transgendered brothers and sisters. They have to overcome the bigotry of not only homophobic/transphobic people who are unaware and ignorant of the challenges faced, but to have someone who is gay, who should fully understand the pain of being ostracized and overcoming adversity that Ray may have to face in the future, and even more so than us…You want to be fucking ashamed of yourself!!!
Dakotahgeo
@TheNewEnergyDude: Thank you from the bottom of my heart, TheNewEnergyDude!!! And super congrats to RAY!!! I have more faith in the young
GLBTQI youth every day! These are the leaders of tomorrow. Sadly, there are some (#2 and #4) who will never fit in to any society or community! Sooo good for us!
Dixie Rect
@Dxley: Of course I do. Thats why I said ‘not again’ before, its the same story and my thoughts have not changed.
KevinDeane
The interview was actually with the Concord Monitor, not the Valley News. They hosted the story from the Concord Monitor on their site.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/news/8783013-95/concord-students-choose-transgender-student-as-homecoming-king
Dixie Rect
@TheNewEnergyDude:”there is a reason it is termed LBGTQ. Our group, of all groups, should learn to be more sympathetic of our transgendered brothers and sisters. They have to overcome the bigotry of not only homophobic/transphobic people who are unaware and ignorant of the challenges faced, but to have someone who is gay, who should fully understand the pain of being ostracized and overcoming adversity”
Ok, so WHY should I learn to be more sympathetic? Wake up, EVERYONE has been ostracized or overcame some sort of adversity, should we let them in our group too? Let’s just let everyone in then, because we have to? It makes no sense. Come up with a better argument.
bledoutcolor
@Dixie Rect
Uh empathy is a pretty good argument in my book.
GeriHew
@Dxley: That’s right Dxley, it’s called Queerty not Gayty.
FYI queer doesn’t necessarily mean gay.
GeriHew
@Dixie Rect: Do you really think real homophobes will ever differentiate between big butch gay men like you and trans people?
When the Nazi’s were putting queer people in concentration camps do you think they were saying: “Oh you’re bisexual not homosexual? You like girls as well as boys? Oh that’s alright then you’re free to go home.” or “This one’s alright let him go. He’s heterosexual, he just likes wearing women’s clothes.”
Dxley
@GeriHew: Shut up, b•tch. Nobody asked your German ass anything. Queer means gay. Period!
It means “odd” as its primary meaning and also “gay”. Not transgender or bisexual whatever. Got it? Vielen dank!
Thedrdonna
@Dxley:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queer
But don’t let me stop your unhinged ranting.
Dxley
^^^ I’m not opening that link even for a billion bucks, but nice try though 🙂
Dxley
I’ll do my own searching on wiki
Dixie Rect
@GeriHew:
What do Nazis have to do with anything? This is so ridiculous, its not 1940s Germany. Sit down.
Transgender is not gay and its not lesbian – fact.
Oh, and beldoutDBag, empathy is a good argument? Maybe for you it is, now that you mention it, how much of your time, effort and how many cash donations have you made to support Trans rights? None, right? You can sit down too.
Who’s up next?
Dakotahgeo
@Thedrdonna: Thank you x 50, Thedrdonna!!! Dak!
GeriHew
@Dxley: Don’t you hate trans and bi people Dxley precisely because you consider us to be “odd”?
Or is that you’re repulsed by how normal we are?
GeriHew
@Dixie Rect: You think all the nasty nazis are dead now do you?
http://www.thegailygrind.com/2013/08/19/transgender-woman-brutally-attacked-by-5-russian-neo-nazi-men-video/
Dxley
@GeriHew. Hey, German chick. Go back and reread what I said until it sinks in. I said the first dictionary meaning of “queer” is “odd” and the second one is “homosexual”. Nothing offensive, it’s just language. Bi and trans people should be by themselves and have their own specific group because the don’t belong in our community. Enough said!
GeriHew
@Dxley:
My name is Geri, but I am not a German.
You are an engineer, not an expert on language or English usage.
Dxley
Dude, get an Oxford English dictionary. It’ll make things clear for you.
I’m out!
GeriHew
@Dxley: The OED? Seriously? The OED?
OK Dxley, I have an Oxford English Dictionary right here…and indeed the entry for Queer says:
queer a, n & v.t. 1. strange, odd, eccentric; of questionable character, shady, suspect; homosexual (also as a noun); out of sorts, giddy, faint, (esp. feel ~); (sl) drunk; in Q~street (sl), in a difficulty, in debt or trouble or disrepute; hence ~/ISH a. ~/LY adv. ~/NESS n. 2. v.t. (sl), spoil, put out of order, ( esp ~ the pitch for one, spoil the chance beforehand; make feel~. (1) orig. unkn (2) thieves cant, orig. unkn)
Nary a mention there of the terms bisexual or transsexual. So of course this means no one would dream of applying the word “queer” to bisexuals and transsexuals, they would reserve it strictly for verified 100% homos only – and of course all those other “odd” things the word is used to describe according to the OED. But not bi and/or trans folk no,no,no.
But wait! Before you start jumping up and down and doing your little victory dance Dxley, lets see what my Oxford English Dictionary says about the word “gay”.
gay, a. (~er, ~est). Full of or disposed to or indicating mirth, light-hearted, sportive; airy, offhand. (sl) cheeky, impertinent: (euphem.) dissolute, immoral, living by prostitution; showy, brilliant, bright-coloured, finely dressed. Hence gaily adv. (ME, f, OF gai, of unkn orig)
That’s it.
What? Nothing about gay meaning homosexual? How is this possible?
Oh I know. It must be an out-of-date dictionary. Yes indeed I see it was published in 1964.
Guess what Dxley, your Oxford English dictionary might not be as old as mine but it’s out-of-date too. Because when I say that queer doesn’t necessarily mean gay I’m right. I know what I’m talking about. I’m in touch with what’s going on in the world. And when you say no, no, no, queer means odd and gay gay gay! not bisexual, not transgender no, no, no – and cite the effing OED of all things as your incontrovertible evidence, all you are doing is showing the rest of us how OUT OF TOUCH you really are.
Queer is a reclaimed hate word. And this bisexual bitch is reclaiming it. Not just for me and other Bis; for all the lgbt people it’s historically been used against. Deal with it.
Dxley
@GeriHew: You say nothing in so many words!
GeriHew
@Dxley: dimwit
Dxley
@GeriHew: B!tch