A transgender teen was crowned homecoming queen at a Huntington Beach school on Friday, more than a month after California's governor signed a law that provides help for transgender you in the state's public schools.
According to Reuters, Cassidy Lynn Campbell won the popular vote for homecoming queen at Marina High School. Campbell was born a male, but identified herself as a girl.
Campbell, 16, began her transition in high school, taking prescribed hormone blockers and estrogen injections to give her the female characteristics and live as a girl, the Los Angeles Times reports.
"If I win it would mean that the school recognizes me as the gender I always felt I was," Campbell told the LA Times before the election.
"But with all the attention, I realized it's bigger than me," she said. "I'm doing this for the kids who can't be themselves."
At halftime, school district spokesman Tom Delapp announced Cassidy was the winner out of the 10 homecoming queen canidates.(view photos here).
"She was stunned. She kind of broke down on the podium," Delapp told the LA Times about Campbell's reaction. "She was shocked. She cried a lot."
Christine Campbell, Campbell's mother, told Reuters she was proud of her daughter's accomplishments.
"I never thought that in my lifetime I'd experience an event like this, and especially for the event to be my girl. It's been difficult, amazing and emotional all at the same time," her mother said. "I'm so proud of her and not just because she's my daughter - she could be anybody's daughter today. I look at a lot of things differently now."
Campbell's peers were supportive of her win, chanting her name and rushing towards her to give congratulatory hugs.
"I prepared myself not to win. When they said my name and I saw those balloons it just overtook me instantly and I dropped to the floor. It was ultimate joy," Campbell told Reuters.
Related Article: Transgender Homecoming Queen Receives Backlash Over Win
