Saturday, April 21, 2007

Mexican-born trans man wants to be high school prom king in Fresno

Tony Covarrubias, who was born in Jalisco, Mexico as a woman, wants to be crowned king at tonight's Fresno High School prom night event. The Associated Press says that advocates believe that this is the first time that a transgender person openly runs for prom royalty but leads the article by calling Tony by his female name and refers to him as "she" throughout the article. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has met with the AP in the past to address the terminology they use and have shown themselves encouraged by their treatment of certain stories on transgender issues but apparently some work remains to be done.

UPDATE: No prom king crown for Covarrubias.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Tiffani Sanchez, a science teacher who advises the school's Gay-Straight Alliance, complained.

"Cinthia is still really learning who she is," she said. "We want her to know that there's a safe space for her here and we support her."


Well, the advisor for the gay straight alliance also refers to Tony as "she." And I don't see anywhere in the article where Tony explicitly identifies as a transperson. Tony say's he's happy that the policy was changed to allow girls to run for prom king--which wouldn't seem to apply to him, unless he's a girl running from prom queen. Seems like Tony's gender identity is even more fluid than "trans" can capture.