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George Mason U. elects man as homecoming queen
Friday Feb 20, 2009
FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason University students have elected a drag queen as homecoming queen. Student Ryan Allen beat out two women for the title at the small school in suburban Washington, D.C., famous for its run to the Final Four a few years back.
Allen competed under his drag queen persona of Reann Ballslee.
Allen, who is gay and performs in drag at nightclubs, said he entered as a joke. But he considers the victory one of his happiest moments and proof the school celebrates its diverse student body.
The senior from Virginia's Goochland County won the pageant about a week ago at a sold-out homecoming basketball game against Northeastern. George Mason's basketball team pulled off a string of upsets to advance to the Final Four in 2006.
- From Yahoo News
Go, Reann!
And in the words of RuPaul:
"Gentlemen, Start Your Engines. May the best woman win!"
What do you think?
Is this a good thing?
Does it promote tolerance and understanding, or is it just going to reinforce prejudices about gay men being effeminate?
And perhaps most importantly, what should Reann wear to her coronation? (okay, just kidding on that last one - I would never presume to tell a drag queen what to wear! I'll leave that to the experts!)
More photos of Reanne's win for you to enjoy:
Have fun talking about this one!
Namaste,
Lee
5 comments:
Well, what a homecoming! I must admit that I was very taken with the guy who won the "Mr. Mason" homecoming award for "King." He didn't miss a beat when he was announced. He showed genuine enthusiasm and walked right over to "Ms. Mason" -- put his arm around her and stood tall and proud. I believe the young man who was crowned "Mr. Mason" deserves an extra shout-out for being such...a....gentleman. I see now why he won the award. Ricky, "Mr. Mason", you have the heart and soul of a true king and you made one queen very, very happy! RULE ON!!
I think that was a great point, and beautifully said. Ricky (Mr. Mason) shows how to be a Straight Ally with style!
I think it's excellent. Sure, there are people who'll use it as ammunition in their homophobic ranting, but people like that are going to have a negative attitude toward gays anyway and nothing is going to change that. Seeing Reanne crowned Homecoming Queen will show other gay and/or cross-dressing teens that they're not freaks and there are large groups of people who accept and admire people like them. That's an invaluable lesson.
This reminds me of when Davis High School in Sacramento elected a pair of Homecoming Princes in '07. (The link just goes to my post about it; the news article I linked has unfortunately expired.) It's great seeing schools demonstrating this kind of acceptance. :)
Angie
Angie, I hadn't heard about the Homecoming Princes - how Awesome!
Thanks for sharing,
Lee
I read this the other day and was gratified to read there were only two comments from the students. And neither were negative. Oh one did say it was all a joke. Her attitude reminded me that the next generation are coming and they are much more accepting.
I think the backlash we might see are schools changing the requirements for homecoming queen to include that each person be female. There's no such requirement at this school.
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