She was a shoo-in.
“Everyone at school loves her,” one student told KNBC-TV News, explaining why 16-year-old Cassidy Lynn Campbell was expected to reign as their Huntington Beach, California, high school homecoming queen. “She’s super sweet,” agreed another.
Cassidy shares her transition in personal YouTube videos to her 18,00 subscribers and says she knew from a young age that she was a girl. She came out as gay in junior high, but after dressing as a girl for Halloween during her sophomore year at Marina High School, she was finally comfortable in her own skin.
With the support of her school’s administration and most of her classmates, Cassidy decided to campaign for the crown to make a statement. “If I win it would mean that the school recognizes me as the gender I always felt I was,” she told the Los Angeles Times before being crowned. “But with all the attention, I realized it’s bigger than me. I’m doing this for the kids who can’t be themselves.”
“I’m speechless. I can’t even believe this,” Cassidy said of her win. “I’m so proud of my school, my administration and the student body for making this happen. It doesn’t matter what people say about you, and the intolerance you may face doesn’t matter. You can get through all of it, and you can thrive through all of it.”
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