The day after being crowned Homecoming Queen should be joyous and happy, but sadly it wasn’t for Cassidy Lynn Campbell, a 16-year old from Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California. The very brave Campbell says she’s “so unhappy,” and hurt by all the “negative and ignorant” comments and responses to her winning the crown in her conservative Orange County community.
“Why is it that I fucking won homecoming queen but I’m not happy?,” Campbell cries in her almost nine-minute video. “I’m so sad, I’m so distraught and so broken down and so upset and so deteriorated and so tired of the world.”
And she asks why “I can never have something good happen to me and people just be happy for me — never. I’m always judged and I’m always looked down upon.”
When she won the crown Friday night she was in a far different mood.
“I was so proud to win, not just for me but for everyone out there,” Cassidy said upon winning. “I think it really shows the progression of the times.”
In her video, she explains the “mean,” “judgmental,” and “ignorant” comments she’s had to deal with, and how they make her feel.
“I’m so sad and so distraught and so broken down and so upset and so deteriorated and so tired of the world,” says Campbell. “I’m tired of life. And I know I need to be strong for the kids that I did this for and people I did this for, but I can’t right now.”
She asks that people treat her like they would any girl, and says both she and her family have always known she was a girl, ever since she was born.
Sadly, some of the comments on videos she has posted to YouTube are vicious.
“No cassidy is a man. Get over it,” reads one — which fortunately was hidden for receiving too many negative votes.
Another asks, “Do you think the Homecoming King signed up for this?”
But there are many positive comments as well, including this one:
Im so happy for her. She is a true inspiration not only to other trans individuals but cisgender people as well. She is kind, happy and brave going for what she wants. These haters just want attention because their lives are not how they wanted to be. We need to ignore the bullies and focus on the good that people like Cassidy can give other people.
Indeed.
On the YouTube video below, Campbell writes:
i am usually a very strong and confident person, but i have my moments too. although there was alot was positive feedback, there was alot of negative too, and the negative affected me more than it ever has before. i recorded this because i didnt know how else to vent, i didnt want to talk to anybody.
//www.youtube.com/embed/LoIBMttsQaA
Hat tip: Jezebel