Transgender homecoming queen crowned at William and Mary

WILLIAMSBURG, Oct 25, 2009 (Daily Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- JMLCA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The College of William and Mary's new homecoming queen is a transgender student, a "gender-queer" junior selected by classmates this week with little fuss.

In a red shirt, black pants and a small silver lip ring, Jessee Vasold made a half-time appearance Saturday at the Tribe's football game against James Madison. The new queen was greeted with polite applause but little other notice. Vasold and the other members of the homecoming court were introduced, posed for pictures, and walked off the field.

Vasold identifies as "gender-queer," a catch-all term for those who identify with something other than traditional male or female gender roles.

"Normally, it really just depends on the day, how I dress," said Vasold, who prefers gender neutral pronouns -- "ze" instead of he or she and "zir" instead of him or her. "I don't identify as a woman. It really just depends on the day and the occasion."

Vasold has created an account on the social networking site Facebook for a female identity, Kathy Middlesex.

Interviewed at the homecoming game, Vasold recalled the announcement of the result of the voting this week. "I knew I was nominated, but I was just surprised, because there were a lot of other really good candidates on the ballot," Vasold said. "I know all of the other girls, and they're wonderful people, really friendly. So I was surprised."

Vasold said family members were in town for homecoming, and while they have been "generally" supportive, some were unsure about the decision to accept the homecoming title.

"They're a little hesitant about this, but they realize that it's my choice to accept," Vasold said.

William and Mary president Taylor Reveley had no problem with Vasold's selection, made in nominations and direct voting by students.

"I knew Jessee before," he said. "(It's) a little more publicity than normal for a homecoming queen, but it's just fine."

Vasold said everybody had been supportive. "I've only had people congratulating me. I know that one of my friends was in a conversation with someone who didn't think that it was fair that I was able to run, because I'm not female-bodied," the new queen told the student newspaper, The Flat Hat. "But it generated a really good conversation, so they were able to talk about a lot of different things."

Students were asked to describe how their nominees exemplified school pride, junior class president Mike Tsidulko told The Flat Hat.

He said there are no rules against men or women running for opposite gender roles.

Vasold is the student assembly undersecretary of diversity initiatives for the college's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs. Last year, Vasold was co-president of the Lambda Alliance, the school's GLBT advocacy group.

"I got a lot of support from the people I know," Vasold said.

Students at William and Mary were supportive of their new homecoming queen Saturday.

"I just heard about it today. I think it's a good development. This is a fairly liberal college," said Jim Zadick, a law student.

Andrew Hass, another law student, agreed the election of a transgender homecoming queen was a "good thing."

Other students questioned outside the law school were equally supportive.

"I don't see why it's not a good thing. Change is seldom bad," said John Krug.

Change has been in evidence on other Peninsula campuses this month.

Hampton University crowned its first non-black Miss HU this month when Nikole Churchill, 22, successfully competed against nine black students in the 15th annual scholarship pageant.

But the event took a controversial turn when Churchill, who is from Hawaii, wrote to President Barack Obama claiming her selection by a panel of judges was met with negative comments on campus because of her skin color. She subsequently apologized and was greeted with a standing ovation Thursday when she was formally crowned.

Staff writer David Macaulay contributed to this report.

News to Use: Learn the terms

A TRANSGENDER person identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person's sex at birth.

A TRANSSEXUAL is a person who strongly identifies with the opposite sex and might seek to live as a member of this sex especially by undergoing surgery and hormone therapy to obtain the necessary physical appearance (as by changing the external sex organs).

Source: Merriam-Webster's online dictionary

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