ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando teenager who made national news when she became her school’s first transgender homecoming queen has graduated high school.
“I got so much support from it and it just skyrocketed from there,” Evan Bialosuknia, 18, told News 6.
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An Instagram post from Olympia High School in Orlando heralded the historic moment on Sept. 24, 2021.
“I remember the teacher who runs it said i got like the most votes in history. I thought that was pretty cool. Just to know that I had that much support,” Evan Bialosuknia said.
Evan Bialosuknia came out as transgender in summer 2021.
After months of counseling, Evan began taking hormone therapy just before the start of her senior year. Her mom is quick to defend the process of transitioning.
“Some think it’s a choice, which always to me is beyond ludicrous because nobody would ever choose this. It’s very difficult and Evan would agree to that. Evan has said to me many times, ‘I wish it wasn’t like this and it is very difficult and it is really hard because it’s a lifetime.’ It’s not like in six months we can come off the medication. This is forever,” Marnie Bialosuknia told News 6.
Evan Bialosuknia said she’s always enjoyed support from her classmates but felt singled out when she wanted to continue playing sports.
In 2021, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, banning trans kids from playing sports.
“I can tell you this. In Florida, girls are going to play girls’ sports and boys are going to play boys’ sports. That’s what we’re doing, and we’re going to make sure that’s the reality,” DeSantis said shortly before signing the legislation in Jacksonville surrounded by teenage athletes.
Evan Bialosuknia played football as a boy for years, but her mother said Evan never really cared for it. Her interest in sports reignited in her senior year of high school.
“I wanted to try out for lacrosse this year and I couldn’t because it was against the law and I don’t think that’s fair. I mean, I have the same levels of estrogen, testosterone as any other cisgendered woman. I should be able to do the same things that they can do,” she said.
A few months into her senior year, another Florida law targeting the LGBTQ community and schools was signed into law. This one was called the Parental Rights in Education Act.
Critics were quick to call it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The law prohibits the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms and also bars teaching those topics in other classrooms in ways that are “not age-appropriate.”
“We have seen curriculum embedded for very, very young children - classroom materials about sexuality and woke gender ideology,” DeSantis said moments before signing the bill while surrounded charter school children in Spring Hill, Florida.
Months after the bill was signed, the mere mention of it draws a quick response from the Bialosuknia family.
“It’s wrong. What you are doing is wrong and there is no reason to discriminate against anyone know matter what it is,” Evan Bialosuknia said. Her mother added, “This isn’t like a gay, straight, male, female, this is a human rights issue, and we’re not trying to take away anyone else’s rights. We’re not saying you can’t do what you want, we’re not saying we’re not trying to indoctrinate anybody else’s children. I mean, that’s just the craziest thing I’ve heard of.”
Evan Bialosuknia begins college this summer at Florida Atlantic University. She hopes to major in business management or marketing.
After college, she wants to move to New York City.
Support for LGBTQ teens and their families is available at Trevor Project, Zebra Coalition, and The Center Orlando.