A male student at Oak Park High School in Kansas City, Missouri, was just crowned homecoming queen, beating out his four female competitors. Tristan Young, who identifies as female, was announced the winner on September 15 with a celebratory post on social media by the North Kansas School District (NKSD).
In the post to X (formerly Twitter), the school shared photos of Young among the other female candidates, smiling as he received his crown and sash.
“Congratulations to @Northmen_OPHS Homecoming Queen Tristan Young,” the district wrote.
In addition to reposting NKSD’s photos of Young, Oak Park High School (OPHS) posted an additional photo of him beaming in a purple sequined gown.
Notably, comments were turned off for each post celebrating his win, with both the school district and the school rushing to hide the negative replies that were made before the comment section was locked down.
According to Libs of TikTok, news of Young’s win outraged parents, some of whom were concerned that the school was prioritizing certain student demographics over others.
One parent, who chose to remain anonymous, told Libs of TikTok that she is “appalled by NKC Schools’ continued support” of the LGBT agenda.
“NKC Schools says they are ‘Champions for All Students,’ yet by embracing radical political statements like this, they not only indoctrinate children, but they are placing certain student populations over others,” explained the mother.
Another parent expressed to Libs of TikTok that she felt it was “heartbreaking” to see opportunities being taken away from young women by a man.
“As a woman, it breaks my heart to see these girls get passed over and a man stealing what is rightfully theirs,” she explained. “As a parent, I’m enraged that the school district is celebrating this on all of their social media accounts.”
She added: “On the other hand, I’m broken-hearted because I know the students voted for him … Although Kansas City is a liberal-leaning area of Missouri, it is still more conservative than most cities. I don’t know how we’ve reached this point or how to turn it around.“
Others on social media were similarly outraged by the results of Young’s win. Haley Kennington, an editor at Wrong Speak Publishing, shared a photo of Young with the other candidates on X, sarcastically pointing out that a new “queen” had been crowned at OPHS:
“Oak Park High School just crowned their prom queen. Spoiler alert: HE beat our four other beautiful girls,” Kennington wrote.
Another X user who goes by the handle @Ryan_TreeFiddy posted: “A guy is crowned homecoming queen in Missouri because we live amongst millions of crazy people.”
This is not the first time OPHS has made headlines for crowning a male homecoming queen. In 2015, Landon Patterson was crowned the first transgender homecoming queen in the school district.
Patterson, who had transitioned earlier in 2015, was nominated for homecoming queen shortly after coming out as transgender. In response to winning, Patterson admitted to the media he felt “complete.”
“To have students and my friends vote for me just makes me feel welcomed and loved for who I am,” he said. “I feel like that princess.”
Currently, Patterson boasts over 40,000 followers on Instagram where he posts scantily clad photos of himself in lingerie. According to his bio, he is the self-proclaimed “Japanese Barbie of KC” and “KC’s Taylor Swift Illusionist.”