A high school in a small, conservative, town in the small-ish conservative state of Indiana just shocked the world with their winner for Prom King.
And people are totally here for it.
Cristian Hernandez is, in some ways, just like every other candidate for Prom King at Jefferson High school. Hernandez spent way too long getting ready (5 hours!) and was nervous standing there waiting for the winner to be called—sure the announcement would be someone else's name.
What made Hernandez different and this win such a delightful surprise for the rest of the world is that they were the only Prom King candidate up there in a sequin gown and flowing blonde wig. Cristian, an out and proud nonbinary student, decided to have some fun with it and attend prom in drag.
It was five well spent hours because they absolutely crushed the look.
Still, they weren't expecting the win:
“In my head I’m thinking, 'I’m not going to win.’ I was just praying to the gay lords."
Those ancestral gays came through for Cristian. When the win was announced, Mx. Hernandez barely missed a beat before strutting the red carpet to the cheers and applause of their classmates.
Not the dramatic boa fling, too!
@hotboycristian king… queen… whatever you wanna call it im still that bitch #prom #promking #promqueen #drag #gay #LGBT #mothersday #queen #rupualsdragrace #makeup
Some of the other Prom King candidates took issue with Cristians win, but the award is student-chosen and it's clear that people were into it. The cheers are loud - you can hear multiple people screaming "YEEES!" and "GO CRISTIAN!"
The smiles and celebration going on behind them seem genuine, too - shout out to the girl in the pink gown who went through about 37 emotions at once and wore them all on her face.
Cristian isn't worried about the people who don't think they should have won. They shrugged it off saying "the boys at school always have a problem with something" and chose, instead, to talk about something they thought was more important than the boys negativity.
Hernandez, dropping some inspirational dish:
“I want to inspire people to try and break down those barriers that have been put up.”
"Really be yourself, and confidence is key. You can’t let people tear you down.”
Video of the win has been viewed, and celebrated, thousands of times across multiple platforms.
TikToks viewers cheered just as hard as the kids at Prom did, but even in the much (much) meaner world of Twitter, Christian cut through the hate to inspire people.
Which is honestly amazing.
Congrats to Cristian on their win, and for being inspirational!
