by Kristen Shlakman
Regardless of your amount of school spirit, it is almost impossible to ignore the buzz around this year’s homecoming court nominees.
In addition to the traditional top five male and females nominated for king and queen, there is one extra male in the running for the queen title.
This leaves me with several questions with the most important being, why?
Why is a male allowed to run for a female title when there is a title of equal importance for males?
I cannot come up with a logical reason that a male should be able to be considered for homecoming queen. I can only see the possible backlash and problems that could come from the situation as whole.
In my view, I see this situation strictly from a gender standpoint. If a person is a male, they should be nominated for king and if they are a female they should be nominated for queen.
Unless my facts are incorrect, the male running for queen is not a transgendered individual and there is no question on his physical sexuality. He is in fact a male. You can argue the opportunity for a transgendered student when it comes around, but for this instance it is irrelevant.
The student body has used the word “queen” to describe more of an alter ego, or his personality, rather than strictly going on biological facts. I can only wonder, would the school have allowed a female that has more masculine qualities to run for the king title?
Where are we drawing the line of what’s inappropriate and what is taken as a right of self-expression?
So one can only wonder, what is the motive behind all this?
I understand trying to make others more open minded about free- thinking and equality, but is this the way to get the point across?
I am a firm believer in self-expression under normal circumstances and would never judge someone based on their beliefs.
But regarding this matter I don’t believe Capital should have let a male be nominated for a female position. We need to stop ignoring the facts and making exceptions for expression and shock factor.
Does this mean that male students are now allowed to run for all female awards? There’s no difference in allowing a male to be considered for queen than allowing males to be considered for female scholarships.
It also makes me question the reasoning behind students voting for a male as queen.
What makes him more deserving of the spot than the biological female he beat out? If he had that many votes, he should have just run for king. Capital allowing this to happen is more than a shock to me.
If the male individual were to win, what kind of press would this bring to the university?
I am not saying it would necessarily be good or bad, but is it representing our values?
It also could bring a backlash of press towards the individual that could possibly stay with him for years to come.
Would future employers see this as a right of expression?
While I would love to say that everyone is going to be open-minded about the entire situation, the reaction already on campus alone proves that it just isn’t realistic.
It just doesn’t seem worth the gamble personally or professionally.
kshlamka@capital.edu
