Thursday, May 28, 2009

He's A Queen, All Right

Prom king and queen. What is their purpose? Do they serve any real purpose anymore, or, as I believe, are they merely a throwback to long-gone days?

If you can articulate a genuine purpose behind having a prom king and queen, what is the value in having a boy chosen as prom queen?

An openly gay teen was voted prom queen at Los Angeles' Fairfax High School in a campaign that began as a stunt but ended up spurring discussion on the campus about gender roles and teen popularity.


I admit, I liked this part of a pre-victory speech he gave:

"At one time, prom may have been a big popularity contest where the best-looking guy or girl were crowned king and queen. Things have changed and it's no longer just about who has the most friends or who wears the coolest clothes," Garcia told a gymnasium full of seniors. "I'm not your typical prom queen candidate. There's more to me than meets the eye."

While the sentiment is valuable, is this really an exercise in open-mindedness? Is it nothing more than showing the uselessness of having a prom king and queen in the first place? Is it a big joke, so maybe the students will create and witness discomfort when the king and queen are supposed to dance?

Whatever it is, it bears no resemblance to the reasoning behind choosing a king and queen back when that tradition was in its genesis.

3 comments:

mmazenko said...

As so many people have noted, this younger generation is a much more tolerant and inclusive group, for whom subjects like homosexuality and, thus, gay marriage, are non-issues. They don't hold those "traditions" so dear, and clearly the issue of prom king/queen is about as rigid.

Thus, in the future social issues that create vociferous debate now will simply not cloud the public square. I'm sure some of these kids were politically thumbing their noses at Prop 8, and others just thought it would be amusing to elect a gay classmate Prom Queen.

Having a king and queen is part of the fun, and this class chooses their fun in an un-orthodox fashion. While James Dobsen and Sean Hannity may see this as the end of civilization, the majority of young people see it as no big deal.

Dustin Stetina said...

I'm a young person and I think it's weird that a bot can be a queen. I didn't know that.

Well I'm ready for everyone commenting to call me ignorant, a bigot, homophobic, wrong, anti-gay, and the myriad of others.

I voted for my dog to be prom king. Maybe next year she can win. I assumed that she couldn't be king because she's a girl.

Now I know she has a chance :)

neko said...

I've got the perfect song:

"You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen - Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine - You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life - See that... um, guy... watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen"