There’s no Place Like Home(coming)
Originally Published On September 27, 2017
By Melissa Milbrandt
ALTHOUGH BASED IN FACT, THE AUTHOR TAKES A PRO-LGBTQ STANCE. WHILE INDIVIDUALS MAY DISAGREE, TODAY’S CURRENT AND ITS STAFF STANDS WITH MS. MILBRANDT’S WRITING.
“Tradition is a great thing to have in life, but there comes a point where we have to question why we have [them].”
— ASB PRESIDENT, CLAIRE GRAVES
*LGBTQ is an acronym used to describe the growing community of people who identify as homosexual, transgender, genderfluid, etc. the letters stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. These terms included in the acronym, though representative of a large portion of the LGBTQ community, are far from all-inclusive.
The LGBTQ* community is one that is, unfortunately, under an immense amount of scrutiny — to put it lightly. Between the recent presidential election and the rise of violently intolerant and homophobic citizens, those who were already marginalized, are feeling further oppressed by their fellow Americans.
Though we have no control over the acts of our nation, we can start here, at Glencoe — That’s exactly what this year’s leadership class did.
According to many members of the leadership class here at Glencoe, a collection of students spoke out during the 2016–17 school year about the Homecoming Court system.
For those who aren’t familiar with the school’s previous Homecoming system, students would vote for six candidates of their own class (much like what we did this year). However, the ballot required the voter to select three boys and three girls. Then, at the annual Homecoming football game, the six final candidates would be coupled off, and walk arm-in-arm onto the field as they were announced, and the elected Homecoming “queen” and “king” were revealed, and given crowns.
Now, though harmless in nature, anyone can see how the gender-based system and heterosexual pairing of the candidates are clearly exclusive to students who identify with the LGBTQ community. As ASB president, Claire Graves, explained it: “…even just the ballot [makes] them immediately excluded from [the] activity”.
This is where the leadership class comes into play. Ever-cognizant of the student body’s requests, our fearless leaders entered into the messy, and highly-debated business of policy change. Last year, as we were celebrating the nearing of summer break, they debated the possibility of reconstructing Homecoming Court. An extremely touchy subject, the idea of accommodating for the minority did not sit well with some students. Tempers ran high; the school year ended, yet no final verdict was reached. Finally, according to Graves, “a… decision was reached during the summer with the ASB group”.
Leadership Advisor, Mr. Self, had high praise for his students, commenting on their willingness to include others, despite their individual beliefs and comfort zones. He pointed out, “They were having this really difficult conversation that most adults can’t have in a calm way, and here we are as 15, 16, [and] 17-year-olds having this really deep conversation… it was really impressive… I was really proud to be a part of it”.
The solution was simply to remove completely the concept of gender from the Homecoming elections. Now, rather than a restricted ballot of three boys and three girls, there are six slots where students can list any six students that they want, without the exclusivity of gender. In addition, the winners will no longer be labeled as “kings” or “queens”, but as “royalty”
Now, many students who do, in fact, identify with a specific gender are troubled about the removal of the “king” and “queen” titles, as they are a well-loved tradition. However, this needn’t be something to worry about. Leadership Senior, Kirsten Van Dyke, explained that each member of the Homecoming Court may express their gender freely — so royalty may declare themselves “king” or “queen” — the only difference is, the school will not force upon anyone a certain identity.
In addition, there will no longer be paired heterosexual “couples” when the court members are presented to the school. Instead, a new tradition that can (hopefully!) be enjoyed by the entire student body will be formed by the Glencoe community. Each of our 26 court members will be escorted by a selected elementary student at the Homecoming game. The result? An adorable — but nonetheless exciting — Homecoming Court reveal.
This year’s elementary schoolers were chosen from Mckinney, but Self says of Glencoe leadership “…our thought is to go to a different elementary school and move it every year”. This will not only create a much stronger community bond between us and our feeder schools but a memory each participating elementary student will cherish forever.
There is, ostensibly, some reproach of the new system, but, as Graves put it, “Tradition is a great thing to have in life, but there comes a point where we have to question WHY we have [these] traditions; What it provides and what it takes away. Here, I think we can start a new tradition that makes more students feel [like a part] of their school.”
Two elemntaray schoolers escort ASB president and senior homecoming member, Claire Graves.
Desterey Epling, a well-known member of Glencoe’s growing LGBTQ community, shared that knowing that anyone can participate in this school-wide celebration without “the fear of being labeled abnormal or out of place” is “really uplifting”. This is what the policy was truly meant to do — to bring inclusivity to all students in Glencoe.
