Transgender teen Cassidy Lynn Campbell is the first ever to win homecoming queen at a Huntington Beach, Calif. high school, but her win was quickly overshadowed by criticism.
Campbell, 16, posted a YouTube video blog about how what was supposed to be a "happy day" for her was bombarded with negativity and "ignorance."
"I am usually a very strong and confident person, but I have my moments too. Although there was a lot was positive feedback, there was a lot of negative too, and the negative affected me more than it ever has before," the teen wrote in the description of the video. "I recorded this because I didn't know how else to vent, I didn't want to talk to anybody."
When Campbell won homecoming queen, her peers cheered her on, some rushing to hug her on stage.
"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.
However, the teen explained in her video not all reacted positively to her win.
"It just hurts so bad because I feel just as much of a girl as all of them do," Campbell said.
"I am just as much of a human being as they are," she added. "The fact that these other people can say the things they say, and act the way they act, and think the way they think is just inhumane."
The above photo pictures Cassidy as a male.
The 16-year-old 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.
In the video, Campbell said she is "always judged" and "made fun of" for who she is. The teen added in her YouTube post she "wonders" sometimes is it "worth it" to live her life as a female, though she was born biologically male.
"They think that I'm just a boy doing this for fun, and I'm just a boy dressing up as a girl and trying to win a crown when that is completely the opposite of what it is," Campbell told ABC News about the negativity she faced when her ballot was announced for homecoming queen. "I've always seen myself as a girl."
