'Empowered to do more:'Trans teen wears homecoming crown with pride despite bullies' jest

MARIEMONT, Ohio. It was a breezy evening as the procession of cars, trucks and parade floats, decorated with banners and blue and yellow balloons, wound through the streets for Mariemont High School's homecoming celebration.

Homecoming parades are usually a special night for students and parents. But for one Mariemont sophomore, Friday night's celebration held even more significance.

Cassie Steiner was voted sophomore homecoming princess this week. Her mother, Kat Steiner, said her daughter came out as a transgender girl in April and has been living and socializing as a young woman since June.

Kat Steiner said she was angry and disgusted when the school guidance counselor called Wednesday to say her daughter was voted in as a homecoming princess as a mean-spirited joke. The teen could decline her nomination and opt out of homecoming court, the guidance counselor offered.

But Cassie Steiner decided not to give the title up and to wear her crown with her head held high.

"Well, it certainly was disheartening," Cassie Steiner told The Enquirer. "But it gave me hope, because knowing that I had haters and I had people who I can alter their corrupted mindsets, made me empowered to do more."

Kat Steiner took to Facebook on Thursday to garner support for her daughter ahead of Mariemont's Friday night homecoming parade.

"Cassie is taking the high ground and making history as trans royalty," Kat Steiner wrote in her Facebook post. "She's owning her title as the sophomore Homecoming Princess because, well, when they go low, we go high. We choose to celebrate!"

For the elder Steiner, she wanted people to know that her daughter isn't a victim. "It's important to me that the narrative is that we have really overcome challenges and that we are choosing to come at this from a place of empowerment," she told The Enquirer.

The community responded in kind with an outpouring of support. LGBTQ pride signs and flags decorated homes along the parade's route. Children and adults held signs which read, "We love you, Cassie" and "Cassie is my warrior," a reference to the high school's mascot.

Erin Satterwhite, 40, said she learned of Cassie's situation Thursday morning and immediately reached out Kat Steiner to see what she could do to help.

Satterwhite, whose children, ages 8 and 11, attend Mariemont Schools, said she organized a sign-making party, and friends, neighbors and people from outside the community showed up to help. They made 100 signs, she said.

"I'm trying to show my children that we need to take action," Satterwhite said. "We want to show Cassie how much love and support and inclusion there really is in this neighborhood."

The school district did not respond to direct questions from The Enquirer, including if administrators consider the prank to be bullying and how they are responding to the incident.

The district did send out a media statement and a letter to district families that did not address the prank but instead outlined the process by which students are elected onto homecoming court.

"The process includes check-ins with students who are nominated to allow them to continue in or opt-out of the process. After the final round of voting, the nominated students are then offered a second opportunity to participate in the ceremonies or opt-out of the public celebrations. While we know many of our students want to participate in these traditions, not all do," the district's statement to the media reads. The letter sent to families included similar information.

"Our homecoming crowning ceremony this year will honor students that have been nominated and selected by their peers throughout this process and we believe this group of students will represent their classes with honor and distinction," Mariemont High School Principal Jim Renner wrote in Thursday's note to district families. "We expect that our student body and our community will, as always, recognize this tradition as an opportunity to celebrate our students and use this occasion to honor the excellence of Mariemont City Schools."

As the procession neared the high school, Cassie Steiner, sat atop a black convertible, held a bouquet of flowers, smiled brightly and waved at the crowd lining the street.

"Knowing that I have the support of so many people just makes me feel so happy," she said. "I don't think people deserve to be hated. Even if they hate me, I don't like being mean to them, because I think that everyone deserves their own light in our world."

Enquirer reporter Madeline Mitchell contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 'Empowered:' Trans Mariemont teen finds support in homecoming parade