Gay Teen Asks Straight Captain of the Football Team to Homecoming

A gay California student asked his straight friend to homecoming to the tune of Christina Perri"s "A Thousand Years."

Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

October 14 2018 8:37 AM EST

October 31 2024 6:09 AM EST

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To the tune of Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years," a gay student at Valley High School in Santa Ana, Calif. asked his friend, the straight captain of the football team, to homecoming on National Coming Out Day. His friend said "yes" in order to "set an example" for the school and the community, according to Instinct.

Standing behind a banner that read "I know I am gay but can I take you straight to homecoming," the gay student, Alexander Duarte, watched his friend Erick Pineda walk a gauntlet of cheering students toward him before Pineda agreed to be his date.

Earlier in the year, Pineda told Duarte, "Yo, take me to homecoming." That's when Duarte knew he would have to step up the proposal.

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For Pineda, saying "yes" to his friend meant stamping out stigma around friendships between straight and gay men.

"It's very important for me to be going to Homecoming with Alexander because I'm setting an example for not only my school, but also my community," Pineda. "I was definitely excited to be asked to homecoming because I knew how important this was for my friend and seeing the support from the staff and students was amazing."