LOS ANGELES - An openly gay teen has been voted prom queen at his Los Angeles high school in a campaign that began as a stunt but ended up spurring discussion on the campus about gender roles and popularity. Sergio Garcia said he felt "invincible" when he was crowned queen of the Fairfax High School dance at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Saturday.

Days before the dance, Garcia told fellow students that he was "not your typical prom queen candidate. There's more to me than meets the eye."

He also promised that he would be wearing a suit on prom night, but "don't be fooled: Deep down, I am a queen."

And he made good of that promise Saturday, wearing a gray tuxedo topped off with the prized tiara.

Garcia, 18, said he saw fliers advertising the prom and the election but they didn't specify that the queen must be female. He thought the role would suit him better than prom king.

"I don't wish to be a girl," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I just wish to be myself."

Senior class president Vanessa Lo said she and other students were initially against the idea but became convinced he wasn't just an attention-seeking clown.

"It just goes to show how open-minded our class is," Lo said.

Unique Payne, 17, said she voted for Garcia because she supported the gay community.

Although many students were supportive of Garcia's run, others were upset and didn't understand why Garcia chose to run for prom queen.

"I'm not really happy about that," said 17-year-old Juan Espinoza. "He should've run for prom king."

---------- Post added at 08:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 AM ----------

:allnight:

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hail the queen

I heard about this, and the dumbass Fred Phelps went to the prom.

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Because this kid is an accurate representation of the whole gay community?

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I liked this story. It made me remember that we are slowly drifting into a more tolerant world.

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Unfortunate it had to take until the 21st century for that to begin happening. And there is still too much homophobia and hatred out there.

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http://www.formspring.me/JCpatriots

How can a gay person be prom queen? What the hell is wrong with this world? This world is over if you people think this is right.

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I actually have to agree with this. It's prom queen. If you don't have a vagina, don't apply.

This is what a PROM KING and a PROM QUEEN are supposed to look like.

They gave that prom queen title to the gay dude cuz otherwise, the gay community would have whined and bitched that it was discrimination. Seriously, gays are getting on my nerves.

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I guess the world is over buddy.
Hes a homosexual. He has some of the hormones of a girl. He has every right in the world to be prom queen.

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It doesn't matter. He's not a girl, he's still a guy. Don't like it sue the god of your choice.

You are a homosexual. Your argument is worthless. That is like a convict stating that he is innocent when he is clearly a killer.

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minus the fact fred phelps and his posse showed up to shit on everything

---------- Post added at 11:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:47 PM ----------

It clearly doesn't matter if he's a girl or a boy, he still won. Don't like it.... ?

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Well of course he won, he should be happy he's got very careless classmates.