HOW A PRINCE IN FRESNO BECAME THE QUEEN

I believe in Crystal because I believe in me

It is with both shock and pride that my birthplace of Fresno has achieved a milestone in transgender rights.

Last month, Fresno Unified School District courageously altered district policy to allow transgender Fresno High student Cinthia/Cynthia Covarrubias to don a tux and run for prom king.

While Cinthia lost, he paved the way for another local transgender student, Johnny "Crystal" Vera, to run for Prom Queen at Fresno's Roosevelt High.

When I first heard the story, I imagined Crystal as a social outcast. But as it turns out, not only is she -- her gender pronoun of choice -- hardly a misfit, she is one of Roosevelt High's most popular and beloved. In addition to being a former class vice president and one of the most celebrated cheerleaders at her school, Crystal is a former homecoming prince. With many supporters cheering her on, she mounted a campaign that garnered local news coverage.

Then, last Saturday, like many other high schools girls across America, Crystal was crowned her high school's Prom Queen.

But unlike any others, Crystal followed the trailblazing footsteps of Jackie Robinson and Sally Ride into the history book of firsts. Fresno student Johnny "Crystal" Vera is the first openly transgender student in the United States of America to ever be selected Prom Queen.

I shamefully assumed her victory was due, at best, to an ironic vote propelled by something similar to the Sanjaya movement. But local news and blogs confirm that her crowning was a genuine, unconditional affirmation of her likable and inspirational qualities. The crying and cheering that followed the reading of her name speaks for itself.

The moving story of her path to royalty is one that makes me feel better about our future and dramatically better about Fresno.

As a child born and raised in California's Central Valley, I was indoctrinated with a wicked case of homophobia that only a progressive education at U.C. Berkeley could undo. Until last month, I couldn't imagine that Fresno would make national news with regard to LGBT issues for anything other than an unconscionable hate crime.

I painfully chuckled during John Cameron Mitchell’s film, Shortbus, when the character Severin, a confused dominatrix-for-hire, laments, "What if I can't afford to live in New York anymore? Where would I go -- Fresno?"

But Fresno -- always the butt of jokes and not helped by the fact that Kevin Federline was born and raised there -- gets the last laugh.

I'm not naively assuming that Fresno is now a bastion of tolerance or a Mecca for transgender students. I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes the only remaining city to refuse to recognize gay marriages.

But in a country that has yet to pass federal anti-discrimination laws to protect gays and lesbians from workplace bigotry, I'll take progress wherever I can find it.

If students at a school in Fresno can crown a transgender student as Prom Queen, then it can happen anywhere.

At last, I can say, without irony, FresNO? FresYES! And Hail to the Queen!

--Junichi