Flanagan High School senior Omar Bonilla went from prom queen hopeful to not being able to go to prom at all. The school says he brought that punishment on himself.
BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ, mrvasquez@MiamiHerald.com
After coming out of the closet this, his senior year at Flanagan High, Omar Bonilla decided to take it a step further: run for prom queen.
He almost won -- Bonilla was among the top three vote-getters -- but in the past few days, it all unraveled.
Fearful that other students would try to beat up a prom-goer in drag, the school administration asked him to wear a tuxedo to Friday night's dance. And after two meetings with the school principal to plead for the right to wear a dress, Bonilla was slapped with a two-day suspension, the timing of which meant he couldn't go to the prom at all.
As students were racing off to prom, Bonilla was putting on his blue sequin dress -- but only to pose for a Miami Herald photographer.
``This week was kind of, like, intense,'' said Bonilla, 19.
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Caption: Omar Bonilla, a finalist for prom queen, wasn't allowed to attend. PETER ANDREW BOSCH / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
I go to school with Omar and even though I dont know him like many others, I supported what he was trying to do... Normally our school administrators would have the students car totalled but to suspend him was just a way to cover up not wanting him to attend prom in a dress...
Posted by: Samantha | May 22, 2010 at 07:21 PM
The school only partly made the right move. They should have escorted this individual to the nearest mental institution to reform their behavioral problems
Posted by: juan | May 24, 2010 at 07:09 PM