Gay Teens Elected Homecoming King, Queen
Report: Students Coming Out Earlier
POSTED: 8:37 am PDT October 21, 2005
UPDATED: 8:47 am PDT October 21, 2005
CHICAGO -- It may not shock people that a jock and a cheerleader were chosen as homecoming king and queen at a Chicago high school, but some were surprised by which was which.
Jen Wohlner and Ryan Cooperman are popular leaders at Buffalo Grove High School. They're also openly gay.
Wohlner plays sports and went to prom with another girl last year. Cooperman is a cheerleader.
"I guess you could say this year it was kind of a jock and a cheerleader, but flip-flopped positions," Wohlner said.
Wohlner said it may show that her school, and her generation as a whole, is a little more progressive.
Time magazine made gay students subject its cover story last week, saying that students are coming out earlier and earlier.
And the number of gay clubs in high schools has exploded from 100 a few years ago to more than 3,000 nationwide today, the magazine reported.
"It's really kind of uncool to be anti-gay," said school psychologist Jennifer Zacharski.
Attitudes have shifted dramatically in one generation, said Zacharski, who sponsors Buffalo Grove's Gay-Straight Alliance.
But not everyone is cheering about the school's groundbreaking choices for homecoming royalty.
"For us, it's a sad thing," said Illinois Family Institute spokesman Pete LaBarbera. "Something that was once sort of universally regarded as a sin, is now becoming sort of cool in high school."