Nonbinary students were crowned prom royalty. Then came the threats.

Nonbinary students were crowned prom royalty. Then came the threats. - The Washington Post

Dai’Sean Conley and Rosie Green couldn’t hear the booing last month as they were crowned prom king and queen. They were too wrapped up in crying, clapping and soaking in the screams from a largely supportive crowd of fellow high school seniors.

But the boos were there, and foreshadowed what was to come.

After a weeks-long campaign, Conley and Green, who both identify as nonbinary, were elected prom queen and king, respectively, at Kettering Fairmont High School’s senior prom on April 22. Their coronation during the annual rite of passage has since erupted into controversy, violent threats and the arrest of a 42-year-old man accused of threatening all LGBTQ+ students at the high school in Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.

It’s one of the most recent examples of how LGBTQ+ issues are roiling K-12 schools around the country. The controversy has reached into nearly every aspect of the education system, including curriculum, bathroom usage, extracurricular activities, book selection, classroom discussion topics, and, as in the case of Conley and Green, the students themselves.

Conley and Green, both 18, have known each other since kindergarten and even dated in elementary school before drifting apart, Conley said. They reconnected in earnest this year when, after launching their bids for prom royalty separately, they decided to campaign together.

They were up against 12 competitors. Around 9 p.m. on April 22, all 14 contestants were corralled in front of the prom crowd for the big reveal. Some came up with their partners, others with people they happened to link up with that night.

Fairmont High’s new prom king was announced first: Green.

“I could not stop clapping,” Conley said.

At that moment, Conley — who uses both masculine and feminine pronouns — said he knew that meant he was probably about to be crowned queen. Still, he added, it was somehow surprising when it happened moments later. As he received the crown, he “heard so many screams.”

“I honestly can’t put it into words what I was feeling,” he said.

And for about a week, Conley and Green rode that high as they glided into their final weeks of senior year and, in a sense, childhood. Then, they started to hear rumblings that people would denounce their ascension to king and queen at the upcoming school board meeting.

On April 26, they started organizing “ Love is Louder,” a rally scheduled for the evening of May 2, when the school board had its next meeting, to show “the kids that love is louder in response to the hate being shown.”

As Conley and more than 40 others gathered outside, a man told board members he didn’t agree with a “biological boy” being chosen as prom queen and “a biological girl” as king.

“Queens are girls, and kings are boys,” he said, adding, “I’m concerned about what’s going on in the schools. I’m concerned about normalizing the idea of questioning gender.”

A woman who heard his comments urged the board to “write a policy requiring prom court candidates to run from a position linked to their biological sex.”

Other than that, Board President Toby Henderson said he and the other members have heard “very little” feedback about the high school prom, the Dayton Daily News reported. Electing a prom king and queen is a student-led process overseen by the administration.

“They have rules about how all that gets orchestrated,” Henderson said, according to the newspaper. “That’s not the type of thing that rises to the level of” the school board.

Around 9 the morning after the board meeting, a man called the main phone line at the high school, threatening LGBTQ+ students, according to an email the district sent to parents that afternoon. Although a school resource officer was notified, the Kettering Police Department advised school officials that sticking to their routine would be helpful as they tried to home in on the caller.

Meanwhile, investigators determined that the call had come from Beavercreek, about five miles away. Forty-two-year-old Brandon Moore was arrested and charged with making threats over the phone and inducing panic. He’s pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Moore’s lawyer did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from The Post.

Conley said he was initially shaken up by the threat and some of the “extremely harsh” hateful messages he has received through social media. But he said he’s processed that and is determined to move on.

“It’s kind of all gone in one ear and out the other,” Conley said.

Instead, he’s held on to the joy — of prom night and the last few weeks of senior year. Conley plans to attend the University of Toledo in the fall, with a tentative plan to study cosmetic science and formulation design, as well as environmental science, and to eventually make environmentally friendly makeup. But the recent experience has also stoked an interest in LGBTQ+ activism, something Conley also plans to explore.

While Conley’s unbothered by the hate, he also said he needs to be more aware of his surroundings, because he knows there are people who disagree with who he is and who may try to act on those feelings now that his gender and sexuality have been “plastered all over the place.”

“There may be a bigger target on my back,” he said.

But as far as dwelling on what those people think and letting that hate affect how he feels about himself?

Nah.

“You can’t depend on other people changing or becoming open to change.”