Annie Wise and Riley Loudermilk, a pair of high schoolers in Kings Mill, Ohio, have been dating for six months now. On April 17, they were voted the prom king and queen, which they believe is the first time an LGBTQ couple has received the crowns in this district.
The excitement was through the roof when Wise recounted the moment how “My crown fell off and it broke. There was a lot going on, but it’s something I’ll never forget. It was amazing.” And while many see the prom couple as a recognition of their popularity, for Annie and Riley, the honor was much more than that. “I do hope it kind of just helps people realize that it's OK to come out,” the prom queen told the press.
Meanwhile, some parents were enraged with the lesbian couple winning the title. It’s honestly more than weird to see a bunch of adults bashing teenagers for something that brought the school community nothing but happiness.
Annie and Riley, the 18-year-old lesbian couple from Kings High School, were elected prom king and queen, an honor they didn't expect
Image credits: KingsLocalSchoolDistrict
Image credits: KingsLocalSchoolDistrict
Kings Local School District shared a photograph of Annie and Riley on their Facebook page and it went viral, amassing 4.8k likes and receiving 2.4k comments. Unfortunately, not all comments on the school district’s post were positive.
The couple has been dating for six months and they hope that their award “just helps people realize that it's OK to come out"
Image credits: riley.loudermilk
Image credits: riley.loudermilk
According to NBC News, the school district had to keep up with the coming posts and delete the negative ones. Riley said that many of those nasty comments said that the couple “needs Jesus,” others expressed that a prom king should be male.
Image credits: riley.loudermilk
Image credits: riley.loudermilk
The rage escalated to a school board meeting last week where one parent stressed her anger about the elected couple being LGBTQ. “Sorry, but I believe that there are still two genders, a male and a female," WLWT5 news reports. According to Fox19, another parent at the meeting added: “I think tradition stands for a queen that has a vagina, a king that has a penis and testicles.”
Image credits: riley.loudermilk
Image credits: riley.loudermilk
The homophobic comments from adults both online and at the school board meeting didn’t affect the decision as the school board defended Annie and Riley. Dawn Goulding, a community relations coordinator for the school district, commented on the matter: “This is solely a Kings High School senior class nominated and voted-on initiative.”
Image credits: annie_wisee
But the week after prom, an anonymous parent had a school meeting where she complained about the decision of electing the LGBTQ couple
Image credits: zoom
Negative comments from haters started flooding in
Fortunately, many people showed support for the LGBTQ king and queen
