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Oakland Tribune

Hayward High picks girl to serve as king

Teen stirs debate by seeking homecoming seat
By Elizabeth Schainbaum
STAFF WRITER

Friday, November 07, 2003 - HAYWARD -- Girls rule Hayward High School!

Proof is in the regal display at the school's annual homecoming parade winding through downtown today.

Atop the senior class's float is one girl wearing a dress. The other girl -- a pantsuit. Both waving and smiling. One is homecoming queen. The other king.

"A lot of people didn't want to see us here, but step back and make way for the royalties," said homecoming king Angela Anthony, 17.

She and homecoming queen Iesha Miller, 17, affectionately called "the terrible twos," are used to being different. Sophomore year, they were the only ones wearing baggy pants with boxer shorts peeking over the waistline. Everyone else wore pants tight.

Best friends since they were knee high, they do everything together.

But the two girls both couldn't be queen, and they didn't want to compete against each other, so Anthony went for king. "Some things change. Why not change this?" said Miller.

Change, however, isn't always simple. The she-king created a schoolwide debate over gender politics, raised questions about what makes a "king" and unearthed prejudices no one thought were there, students said.

Angela never meant to make a political statement. Her running for homecoming king was a joke, hatched over giggles during lunch.

Then she did it. Angela won the most nomination votes, defeating all her male competitors.

With only three nominees allowed, Angela took a spot traditionally given to a senior boy. The senior class chose a king from the three candidates.

"It's been a huge issue," teacher Trudi Hebert said a few days after Anthony was nominated for king. "Obviously, the king is traditionally the male position on a royalty court."

Chris Gradillas, 17, said he voted for Angela because he thought a girl king was amusing.

"I've never seen that before," he said. "I thought it was interesting."

Initially, senior Chris Eckert, who tried for king, didn't like the idea of a girl running. He said each gender should have an equal chance at the throne, a sentiment others share.

The next day he changed his mind.

"How do you know she doesn't identify with the male, the king position?" he said. "I'm not saying Angela feels that way. But she opened the door and all sorts of things came flooding through."

When Angela's nomination was questioned, student activist groups adopted the cause.

"We felt that once a girl runs for king, it becomes a gender issue," said teacher Mike Dwyer, co-adviser for Hayward High's Gay and Straight Alliance. "As long as some people don't fit neat definitions of gender, there's going to be gender inequality, gender discrimination, sexism and heterosexism.

Hayward High has no rules defining the gender of homecoming king and queen. Students and teachers consulted the dictionary, which suggests a king is male.

Despite that definition, Principal Debra Calvin ruled that Angela could try for king.

It wasn't all fun and giggles.

A few students called her a lesbian -- which she's not -- and thought she pulled strings with her student government friends to win a spot on the royal court.

Angela's friends in student government said cronyism wasn't the only accusation. Racial undertones surfaced.

Students overheard others saying that black girls won the crowns because black girls counted the votes. Miller and Angela are both African American.

Despite some bruised feelings, they say relations are better now.

"The school is not racist," said Eckert, who overheard the comments. "The school is a mini society, and there's racism in society."

Anthony pressed on because she realized that her running for king was meaningful to gays on campus.

"People said, 'I appreciate what you're doing,' That's when I realized it was bigger than me," she said. "I gave them confidence to openly say, 'I'm gay.'"

Senior Saied Haddad, 17, said he wouldn't vote for a female king, even if Anthony is his friend. He had male friends who were going for the position.

"They were disappointed, not that they got beaten by a girl, but (because) they had something taken away from them," he said.

He thinks a teenage boy couldn't try for homecoming queen without facing worse ridicule than that which Anthony endured.

When Anthony won the title by a landslide, Haddad accepted the majority decision.

"This is what the senior class chose. I really think this is democracy over tradition," Haddad said.

Elizabeth Schainbaum covers Cal State Hayward, Chabot College and Hayward schools. Call her at (510) 293-2480 or e-mail eschainbaum@angnewspapers.com .

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