Parents Resist Gender-Neutral ‘Homecoming Royalty’ Title at California School

Newport-Mesa Unified School District in Costa Mesa, Calif., on Sept. 21, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A California high school principal’s decision to abolish the titles of homecoming king and queen and replace them with the gender-neutral “homecoming royalty” label has left some parents feeling conflicted.

A Sept. 22 news post on the school’s website reads, “Come cheer on the Varsity Football team and see who is crowned as our Homecoming Royalty.” The school’s homecoming football game is Friday, Sept. 30.

Michael Halt, the principal of Estancia High School in Costa Mesa told a group of about 10 parents on Sept. 27 that he made the decision on his own to make the school more inclusive for non-binary students, according to two parents in attendance.

The parents arranged the half-hour meeting with Halt to discuss the new policy and demanded to know why they weren’t informed about the changes before students cast their votes for homecoming.

The school is the only one in Newport-Mesa Unified School District to adopt the gender-neutral policy, the parents told The Epoch Times.

April Murray, a mother whose 16-year-old daughter attends the school, said Halt told the parents that similar policy changes are happening at schools across the United States.

Halt did not respond directly to a request for comment. However, Annette Franco, the public relations information officer for the school district, defended the principal’s actions.

“This change was supported by an overwhelming majority of ASB [Associated Student Body] students. There has been a growing number of high schools, colleges, and [universities that] have moved in this direction, including schools in many other Orange County school districts,” Franco said in the email.

However, Murray claimed Halt accepted full responsibility for the policy change at the meeting and told the parents he didn’t need to ask anyone’s permission or seek input on the decision.

He was “extremely dismissive” towards the parents and told the group he purposely didn’t inform parents or post anything online because he didn’t want to spark a political firestorm, she said.

Parents Push Back

Many parents are opposed to the new policy because they feel it erases all gender identity, Murray said.

“My daughter and her friends are boys and girls. That’s how they present themselves. That’s what they would like to be known as. That’s who they are,” she said.

Murray respects the wishes of non-binary students who don’t want to use gender-specific terms, “but my child and the other children in the school who don’t feel that way shouldn’t have to change who they are to accommodate three of the 32 nominees, especially when there’s a very easy compromise that can make everybody happy,” she said.

According to Murray, Halt had earlier put the brakes on her daughter’s suggestion at the ASB meeting that whoever gets the most student votes should get to decide for themselves if they want to be called homecoming king, queen, or royalty and whether they want to wear a crown, tiara, or sash.

“So, if in the name of gender equality or gender neutrality you’re taking this away, then why do we have boys’ basketball and girls’ basketball? Why don’t we just call it basketball for all?” she asked.

While Murray sympathizes with the non-binary children, she argues that people should have the freedom to talk about and live according to the idea that gender might not be a social construct, but a biological reality.

“I feel for them. We’re not saying discriminate against these kids,” she said. “We’re saying, don’t make everybody play the game.”

School buses sit parked near Newport Mesa Unified School District in Costa Mesa, Calif., on Sept. 21, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Haley Jenkins, the other parent, said she’s involved with a group called Newport Mesa Uncensored that attends local school board meetings to address sex ed and gender issues as well as other controversial curricula.

While the parents were told the homecoming policy was changed to make the school more inclusive to non-binary students, it “is taking away from a time-honored tradition where they honor a king and a queen,” she said.

“They’re appeasing a very small group of children,” Jenkins said. “To affirm these children’s thoughts that they are not one or the other is very damaging I think, and not living in reality when, in fact, there are boys and girls.”

According to Jenkins, Halt told parents that if schools don’t impose “gender-affirming” policies, it could lead to increased suicides among non-binary students. Some experts, however, dispute this idea.

The new “king and queen” will not be “crowned” with a crown and tiara, but instead will wear a sash with “Homecoming Royalty” on it, Jenkins said.

Meanwhile, parents who’ve criticized education policies at school board meetings have been called transphobic, racist, and even dangerous political extremists, Jenkins said.

“We have a group of teachers that don’t like us speaking out at the school board meetings … so at the last school board meeting … they called us all kinds of names,” she said.

Jenkins stressed that parents have never shown disrespect to the non-binary students.

“Obviously, we have compassion for all of these children, and it’s not that anybody is transphobic,” she said. “These students really do have issues that probably need to be dealt with, and when the school just affirms them and kind of sweeps the issue under the rug, it’s really detrimental to these children that are hurting and are confused.”