When girlfriends Lili Cohen and Greta Melendez were announced as Homecoming Queens at Calabasas High School in Calabasas, Calif. this weekend, the crowd, comprised mainly of high school students, roared in approval. The couple became the first same-sex couple to be crowned Homecoming royalty in the school’s history.
“I was just shocked because it’s just amazing to see how much our school has changed in the past four years,” Melendez tells KTLA. “When I was a freshman, we wouldn’t have gotten that reaction. I went through a lot of bullying.”
One student at Calabasas High credits Melendez with helping to change hearts and minds throughout her tenure at the school, as he said she's worked tirelessly as the president of the school’s Gay and Straight Alliance.
On why she thinks she and her girlfriend Cohen were nominated and then voted in as Homecoming Queens, Melendez says that the more marginalized kids at the school finally have a voice.
“We think the reason that we were picked to win is because, usually the homecoming king and queen are the most popular in their group of friends — whereas we are friends with all the little groups of people,” Melendez says. “And they’ve never had a voice. They’ve never had someone to vote for.”
Watch the happy couple below!
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