This Transgender Homecoming Queen Is Making History

Long live the homecoming queen!

17-year-old Evan Bialosuknia was just crowned homecoming queen at Olympia High School in Orlando, Florida. According to local news outlet WESH, Bialosuknia is the first trans homecoming royalty in the school’s history and possibly the first in the state.

“It made me feel like I actually belonged,” said Bialosuknia about her historic win. “Not just like a joke. ‘Cause that was one of my fears. I was in bed one night like, ‘What if they were just doing this to laugh at me?’”

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by evan bialosuknia (@evanbialosukniaa)

It was no joke: Bialosuknia’s classmates rallied around her and showed genuine support, including her homecoming king.

“There’s only good energy, just a great person,” Bialosuknia said of her royal partner. “He just made me feel like any other girl.”

Bialosuknia started her transition just a few months ago.

“Looking back, it doesn’t even feel like that’s me?” she said, reflecting on the journey to her true self. “I played football for like 6 to 8 years, and I remember during practices I would stare at the cheerleaders because I wanted to be with them.”

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by evan bialosuknia (@evanbialosukniaa)

Bialosuknia’s run for homecoming court was partly for the crown itself (“I wanted to have that moment of glory,” she said), but it also helped her see how her peers had embraced her.

“It just made me realize I was not alone and don’t have to go through this alone,” she said.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by evan bialosuknia (@evanbialosukniaa)

Bialosuknia made Floridian history, but she’s not the first to break barriers in the world of homecoming. This year, the University of Oklahoma switched to a gender neutral homecoming court, crowning two men, one gay and one straight, as their royalty. And back in 2019, trans teenager Charlie Baum won homecoming queen in Georgia after years of bullying from her classmates.

“I went from feeling ready to get out of high school so that I could be normal and just feel like a normal girl — not so much of an oddity or outcast — to feeling like there was a majority of students who support me,” Baum told Pink News at the time.

“Winning a queen title was never something that seemed feasible to me, so it’s a very good feeling to know that I was wrong,” she continued. “This let me know that I do have a chance at normalcy and royalty.”

Hopefully, queens like Baum and Bialosuknia are proof that from here on, anybody can wear a crown, regardless of gender or any other identity they hold.

“I still have a long way to go and more change is coming,” said Bialosuknia. “I have to just keep my head up and know that it’s going to take time and it’s going to take patience.”