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"Matthew has something to tell you," Katie told Teri, who sat up. Matthew stood in the doorway, practically hiding. He was unable to look at his mom. He picked through his ice cream and ate around the tiny peanut-butter cups.

Teri Pope's first reaction was stunned silence. Then she said calmly, "How do you know? You're too young. You don't know."

Matthew took this as the rejection he'd feared. He started crying, and everything went blurry. "I'm not too young," he said. "Oh, my God, I can't believe this. Why are you saying this? I'm not too young. I know I am." He still tried to eat his ice cream.

Teri was just trying to understand. She had never met anyone who was openly gay; she grew up in a military family and was the product of Catholic schools. She wanted to understand and wanted him to explain more, but Matthew heard it as rejection.

Matthew slammed his bowl of ice cream on the bathroom counter. Matthew and Katie went to the basement, where their brother was working on his computer.

"Yeah, I already knew. I kind of go to the same school," Michael replied. They all started laughing.

Teri told Matthew's father, Richard Pope, who acted a little awkward with Matthew at first. One night not long after, it was just the two of them at home. KU was playing that night, and it was tradition for the family to watch it at Birdies. They'd take a bag full of KU paraphernalia to put on tables during the games — a little stuffed Jayhawk, pompoms, red and blue beads, and Richard's old KU jacket. But Matthew wasn't sure if his father would still ask him to go. But then his father said, "Let's get the bag together." In the car, they talked about school.

The rift with his mom took longer to heal. "We still had a relationship, but for me, it always felt a little part was just keeping us apart. It wasn't fun," he says. He admits that he wasn't mature enough to understand where she was coming from and that he over-reacted and misinterpreted her questions and actions as being anti-gay. During his freshman year, he hung out a lot with juniors and seniors and sometimes sneaked out of the house to meet his friends. He took umbrage at his mom's suggestions that he needed more friends his age as well as her attempts to enforce his curfew. "You never put these rules on Katie or Michael. I can't believe you're doing this to me!" he told her.

They finally mended their relationship right before Matthew's senior year. He left a letter for her explaining that he didn't want to have to conceal things from her and he wanted their relationship to go back to how it was when he was younger. He told her about James, whom he had just started dating, and how he wanted James to go to homecoming with him.

"We needed to get our cards on the table. And we did," he said.

At the dance, the 12 homecoming king candidates were introduced, and the announcer started counting down the five runners-up.

After the first runner-up was announced, he realized, "Oh, I haven't been called yet." He looked around, trying to figure out which of the remaining candidates was going to be the next king. He conveyed this to Sarah, who assured him again, "You're going to get it."

He felt nervous and reminded himself to calm down.

When the announcer read his name, he stood there, shocked. His heart kept racing. "You won!" Sarah screamed over the uproar from the crowd. She started jumping up and down and grabbed him.

There's no way I'm homecoming king. No way, he thought. Sarah helped him walk to the middle of the stage, where Laura Wetzel, the queen, crowned him and gave him a big hug. "That's awesome, Matthew!" she said.

Matthew's cheeks were red, and his face hurt from smiling so much. Looking out, he waved to his mom, who was jumping up and down. He saw Serena, perched on someone's shoulders, clapping and yelling loudly. He and Laura posed for pictures, and then they walked out of the gym with their court following.

Out in the hallway, he was mobbed by people congratulating him. His mom rushed up and started taking pictures. She knew how much he wanted to be nominated and how much his win meant. "I'm just so proud of you!" she said. He was a little surprised that she attended homecoming, but for the rest of senior year, she attended more events and games than before.

Matthew didn't realize just how many people he knew until they all congratulated him after his victory. In the meantime, James was overwhelmed. After meeting at least 20 people, he said, "I cannot believe how many people you know." After that night, he got a ton of Facebook.com friend requests.

Looking back, Matthew describes that night. "It was just," he says and then pauses, searching for the right words, "all happy."

Wherever he goes from here, the memory of homecoming will help carry him through: "It was the ultimate feeling of being accepted. I'll be going on now for the rest of my life having that experience. Everyone accepted me, so it's really cool."

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Write Your Comment show comments (11)

  1. Ok...here we go. My father is gay ( I am 47). I did not find out until 6 years ago. Long story short as to how I came into being but I love him, always will and no big deal. Interesting that he and I had the same take on this article...it should have been left alone. This is all great and wonderful for this guy and his friends and family however, these articles that highlight homosexuality, as well meaning as they are, in many ways and with many people give the immpression of an "gay agenda" and there is none. if he was hetrosexual this would not have been written. While we as a country have come a long way, we still have a ways to go. homosexuality sill has a lot of detractors. I come from the west coast and this is no big deal however many people here are still living in the 50's.Lets not in anyway keep this in the closet but by making this worthy of such a huge article it just adds fire to those that think there is an agenda to "push gayness" on other people and unfortunatly...there are plenty of "those"kinds of people still left. Let this filter out naturally, don't force it.

    Comment by Mark — May 7, 2008 @ 05:32PM

  2. Of course the pitch would finally pick up on this story. This is NOT the first time a gay student at SME has taken prom in this direction. This person is NOT the first male dancer. What a joke. It is not new! Just because a paper realizes it for the first time doesn't make it new. The don't realize it, doesn't mean he's the first gay kid at SME. He's the billionth. Its B.S. to pretend like he's making news. Good for his life, but don't act like he's won a prize. Life is life and get over it. You're screwing with his life and screwing with what people think of schools. It's not revolutionary. He's one of many.

    Comment by Former VP — May 8, 2008 @ 02:28AM

  3. Funny how some issues are "no big deal" until someone actually mentions it--and then they're full of negativity and vitriol.

    Mark, I hate to say it, but if your father was in the closet until he was sixty, he's the last person I would look to for a healthy attitude. This is a nice human interest story, and good for Matthew for being so popular by being himself.

    Comment by Sportin' Life — May 8, 2008 @ 02:23PM

  4. No it may not be new to have a gay home coming king but what is truly amazing is the way his peers accepted him. When I was in school this would not have been accepted. It is heartwarming to see that this generation has learned from our mistakes.

    Comment by Mark — May 8, 2008 @ 03:38PM

  5. He's a talented, popular, well-adjusted, happy gay kid who has been out since freshman year and was named Homecoming King. How can the first two commenters not recognize that highlighting someone like that is important to other young gays, who so often face hatred and violence? I'm only 35, but high school was hell for me, and I grew up in a wealthy, "progressive" school district.

    I saw bravo for profiling the kid and showing how normal he is, and how his peers don't care. Once everyone now under 30 is 50, there will be very little homophobia left in this country.

    I think it's really sad that anyone who supposedly supports gays could have a negative reaction to this article.

    Comment by Paul — May 8, 2008 @ 04:29PM

  6. As long as the kid agreed to do the article, I think it could be helpful for other gay students to see a positive role model. When I was his age, and even older I was told all gay people were pervs, and I believed it because I didn't know any other out gay people. Having information like this would have been helpful. Other than his father dying so young, it sounds like he's having a good life. Good for him.

    Comment by Troy — May 8, 2008 @ 09:32PM

  7. WhooptyDooo....we know what the pimple faced homecoming king-queen likes to do for sex!Who cares.What makes him special for being gay.I thought we are all just people and should be treated as the same.Right Libs?Its a sex act...not a race,religion or gender.Oh well...what are you gonna do.The Bitch writes as if 100% of its readers are gay.At least the "fruit fly-Fag hag"crowd enjoyed the article.You know...the cool chicks that always, allegedly,has a gay friend or Black friend (like a pet poodle)as some type of status symbol.

    Comment by billyb — May 9, 2008 @ 12:27PM

  8. Matthew is my brother (yes I am the Katie in the story with the "small silver car" - haha), and I know I am completely biased, but Matthew really is a happy, friendly person and great role-model for young kids, whether they are gay or straight or whatever. I agree with those of you who say that one of the functions of this article (along with being a human-interest piece) is to provide a story & support to young gay people who are trying to figure out who they are and who are scared of how their friends & others will accept them. I also think that it shows the general public that the younger generations are much more accepting than their older counterparts. I understand that this isn't the first time a gay, young, accepted, popular, happy kid has existed or been written about, but the same can be said about a lot of other human interest stories with a wide range of topics. So here's a suggestion for those of you who don't like what or who the Pitch (or any other publication) writes about... don't read it. :)

    Comment by Kt — May 9, 2008 @ 05:20PM

  9. I really think the reason as to why this story should be told is it is a sign of the times we live in. I graduated in 1968. Our homecoming King was captain of the football & basketball team. His queen was the daughter of the most prominent lawyer in town. They went to prom together. He was black - She was white. Back then it raised as many eyebrows as Matthew's story does today. Let's hope it does not take 40yrs for it to become moot.

    Comment by cjerryquick — May 10, 2008 @ 09:01AM

  10. Congrats Matthew!!

    I heard about you on the Feast of Fools Podcast....

    It would be really cool if they would interview you in their show....

    Derek

    http://www.dereketnyre.com

    Comment by Derek — May 12, 2008 @ 01:58PM

  11. I'm really proud of Matthew and proud that East (who is widely known to have a very poor reputation in the social acceptance department) is becoming open enough to accept anyone other than what is considered "mainstream norm" in society. Now maybe the staff and students can try to accept those students who dress differently as well. Not all of them are angry little psycho's. Some just like to be different.

    Comment by Mother of an East Student — May 12, 2008 @ 06:39PM

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