Last week for Top Comments, I wrote about a very happy story involving a gay couple going to prom in rural West Virginia. The story signified progress exactly because it was such a non-story. The two boys danced with each other and enjoyed their night without so much of a peep of protest from other students or the broader community.
Tonight, I have another prom progress story out of rural America. This story, while not without controversy (it's not quite the "non-story" the West Virginia prom was), also demonstrates how far even some of our most rural of enclaves have progressed in a relatively short amount of time. And this one hits close to me, because it's from my home of Warren County, Pennsylvania. I remember being gay in Warren County all too well. While there are certainly worse places to be LGBT, it is also not a particularly easy place to be open about being gay or transgender. And it is not at all a place that I would expect such a warm, hopeful affirmation of LGBT dignity and equality. This story just goes to show that Warren County, too, is moving with the rest of the country on LGBT issues.
Tidioute, in particular, is sort of isolated and backwoods even by Warren County standards. That's not a negative judgment of Tidioute or its residents (everybody I know from Tidioute is wonderful and far from bigoted), it is just to say that this ain't Manhattan. A small, tight-knit town of a little under 700 people on the edge of the Allegheny National Forest, Tidioute is just about as small-town America as it gets. Just how tight-knit the community is has been proven by recent events surrounding the Tidioute Community Charter School prom, where transgender teen Oliver Morgan will be prom co-king. (And this is also a good story right before Mother's Day, because it involves an awesome mom!)
Picture I took in November 2014 of downtown Tidioute from across the Allegheny River.
At only 15 years old, Oliver is a senior at Tidioute Community Charter School (which is the only school in the town, founded after the public high school shut down, sending the students 20 miles north to Youngsville), where he has been known as Allyvia. About a month ago, he came out as transgender and asked to be referred to as Oliver and by male pronouns. And he's ending his senior year with a bang by making history as the first transgender prom king in Tidioute.
But it almost wasn't so. On Thursday, the school vote on prom king ended in a 31-31 tie. When the school administration found out about the result, they were prepared to strike Oliver from the ballot, explaining that a girl cannot be elected prom king. From Erie's WICU-12:
The school's CEO and principal, Doug Allen, broke the news to Morgan's mom, Monica, who also teaches at the school. She then told Morgan. He cried after he found out.
"He (Allen) told the coordinator of prom and the ballots that I couldn't run because I was a girl. And that because I was female, I couldn't run on the king ballot," Morgan said.
Allen says the school made the decision before fully understanding the situation, and that he didn't know Morgan is transgender.
"My first reaction after the vote was, did somebody write in 'Oliver' as a prank? In other words, I was not aware as principal that that's how she'd like to be known," Allen said.
The administration soon backed down when challenged, and Oliver--accompanied by his girlfriend--will attend prom as co-king.
The real story, however, is the overwhelming support Oliver received from the school and surrounding community. An "Allyvia For Prom King" page sprung up on Facebook and attracted over 600 likes overnight. If you scroll on the page, you'll see the incredible level of support he has received. Oliver's mom Monica, writing on the Facebook page, wants that support to be known and acknowledged:
Please do not blame the school or community as a whole either because overall, both have been supportive for the most part. There will always be differing opinions, and that's ok. The only thing I'm sorry about is that the fun and positive aspects of this day were ruined for some. From what I was told, the other student running for King didn't care either way, and I hope this is true because we never wanted him to be hurt or upset by this in any way. He knew Liv was on the ballot for the past two weeks, and it wasn't a problem. It was other people who had no business being involved that had the problem with this. Going forward, let's try to focus on the fact that our town and our school rallied and made history with this story...in a good way. It doesn't have to be negative, there are a lot of positives here too. It's up to each of you to decide what you take from it. I choose the positive aspect, but then again...I'm not close-minded!
I like that attitude, and it appears to be the case that this is a matter of a few intolerant people attempting to create controversy where none really existed. The school and the Tidioute community on the whole clearly accept Oliver, and that is important to note. And Oliver has certainly made life that much more possible for other LGBT youth in the area (something very near and dear to
my heart, obviously). That is another point Monica wants us to take from this story.
From the Jamestown Post-Journal:
"From the other staff members and students, generally they've been very supportive," Monica said. "It's just been a few people that have really fought against it. It's not the school. It's truly the opinion of a few people."
As a mom, she said she is "angry and disappointed that she has to go through something like this," about potentially not being on the prom court. "It truly is no one else's business. She is who she is. For anyone else to judge her is wrong. People are allowed to have their own opinions ... either support Allyvia or be quiet about it."
Monica said that there are "so many people that have never crossed this bridge" that Oliver may be "leading the way for other students who may face this down the road. She's on an island. She's the only transgender student that we even know, let alone in our town."
Oliver adds:
I knew it would stir some feathers being a transgender kid running for prom king. I just wanted to make sure that it would be allowed by the school because I didn't want anyone else to have to pave that way for other kids in the future.
The prom is taking place tonight. Well done to Oliver and those in the community who rallied in support of transgender dignity in Tidioute. What could have been an injustice turned into a really heartwarming story of progress. I'm proud of Warren County tonight!
As for Oliver, he will be graduating with a 4.55 GPA and (I repeat, he is only 15 years old) attending Penn State's main campus in the fall, where he will be a pre-med major.
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