Mr. Uriel Gomez, Not Your Average Wisconsin Prom Queen

It's prom season again, which guarantees big dresses, bigger hair, and the biggest gap between students' and school officials' views on gay participation. Uriel Gomez, an 18 year-old senior at Park High in Racine, Wisconsin (pop. 81,000), came out to his classmates four years ago as a freshman and now got enough votes to appear on the final ballot for Prom Queen. His buds said, more or less, "Uriel! No way!" and the school administration said, more precisely, "Uriel, no way." A popular kid, Gomez was also voted onto the boys ballot for Prom King. He told a teacher he definitely wanted to stay on the girls list for Prom Queen. The teacher said talk to the student activities director, Mr. Kirkvliet. The local paper, the Journal Times, reports Mr. Kirkvliet and other officials "weren't thrilled," and removed his name from the ballot for queen because, “It’s the same for everything. Boys are boys. Girls are girls.” Students totally disagree. Amanda Peterson, for one, doesn't want democracy shushed.

“I don’t think the student voice should be shushed just because (the school) doesn’t agree with it,” said Amanda Peterson, a Park senior and one of Gomez’s friends. “Prom is supposed to be fun, anyway. I don’t see what the problem is.”

Senior Mark Harris agrees.

“I don’t understand how people can be offended by this when it’s not their prom,” Harris said. “King and queen is the tradition and people don’t like it when you mess with a tradition. If anything, we’re accepting the tradition. We’re just kind of putting a 2008 tweak on it.”

Holy cow! Just learned that prom is a ginormous deal in Racine, "a city that for the past 50 years has been annually gripped by prom mania!" Park High was the subject of an 80 minute documentary in 2006 called The World's Best Prom, and they have the footage to prove Racine's passion. Bleachers! Townspeople line up to watch the kids walk the red carpet into the dance. Televised locally! NOW how much do you want Uriel Gomez to be queen?