“It kind of feels like I’m making history a little bit,” Blue Nebeker, a transgender high school senior, told local news channel KEYT. And as the first transgender prom queen at Sanata Barbara High School, she is!
Rachel Fields, a close friend of Nebeker, said that “Everyone voted for her in the first place” and that “everyone was completely thrilled” about their new prom queen. Furthermore, bisexual classmate Sabrina Dabby was named Prom King, making it clear that seniors of Santa Barbara High School are happy to embrace fluid gender roles. Fields couldn’t have said it better when she shared her opinion: “The world is moving forward; you might as well move with it.”
Now a senior, Nebeker came out to her friends and family as a sophomore. Yahoo News reports that her family has been very supportive of her transition, with her father, Eric, expressing his happiness to the KEYT over the accepting community they live in. Nebeker’s mother, Joanna, even said she’s been “telling random strangers in the grocery store” about her daughter being crowned Prom Queen—Understandable, because it’s hard not to be enthusiastic about having a teen daughter with the confidence and support Nebeker has found. Even the high school principle, John Becchio, has expressed his enthusiasm for the inclusive school environment that has been created at Santa Barbara High School.
KEYT reports that “At least three other high schools in Florida, Illinois, and Missouri chose transgender students to crown.” This is a positive sign that as these seniors grow up, they will be important leaders to a generation that can change the way we treat transgender people, breaking down the stigma associated with the LGBT+ community. Nebeker will be moving on to Santa Barbara City College to study cosmetology, and will hopefully find an equally supportive group of classmates there.