Transgender homecoming queen breaks down under backlash

Cassidy Lynn Campbell, who was born Lance Campbell, became the first transgender student at Marina High School to become homecoming queen. But in a video posted on YouTube, the newly crowned royalty laments the bullies who have commented and said hateful things about her win.

Cassidy Lynn Campbell was named homecoming queen at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, Calif., but she’s reduced to tears in a YouTube video as she talks about the backlash.

Bullies ruined a transgender teen's first days as a homecoming queen.
Cassidy Lynn Campbell, 16, cried tears of joy on Friday when she won the crown at her California high school, but euphoria turned to anguish when hate-filled comments began to roll in.
"I can never have something good happen to me and people just be happy for me — never," the sobbing teen said in a YouTube video posted Saturday. "I'm always judged and I'm always looked down upon."
Students at Marina High School crowned Cassidy on Friday, making her the first transgender student to win the title in the history of the Huntington Beach, Calif., school

Cassidy Campbell, 16, reacts on Friday after she was crowned homecoming queen at Marina High School in California.

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The teen gushed about the honor during television interviews on the night of her coronation.

"I realized that it wasn't for me anymore and I was doing this for so many other people all around, not just the county, and not just the state, but the nation and possibly even the world," Cassidy told KTLA 5. "So I am so proud to win this, not just for me but for everyone out there."
The teen had faced critics since transforming from Lance Campbell to Cassidy Lynn three years ago, but she wasn't prepared for the backlash from the homecoming queen nomination.
Cassidy Lynn Campbell, born Lance Campbell, says she has felt like a girl her entire life.

"Sometime I wonder is it even worth it, and if I should go back to being miserable and be a boy and hate myself and hate my life, just so everyone can just shut up and leave me alone," she said, wiping away tears.

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Cassidy built a following online through active Twitter and YouTube accounts, posting a video of her boy-to-girl transformation.
Still wearing her sash and tiara, Cassidy recorded her latest video after enduring the vitriol of the Web.

Cassidy Lynn Campbell wonders in a youtube video whether she’d be better off returning to a ‘miserable’ life as a boy.

"I don't understand why people have to be so ignorant and don't understand," she said. "I am a girl and I've always felt like a girl ever since I was a baby."

She said was usually strong and confident, but the slurs and insults after the homecoming victory hurt more than ever before.
"I'm so sad and so distraught and so broken down and so upset and so deteriorated and so tired of the world," she said. "I'm tired of life. And I know I need to be strong for the kids that I did this for and people I did this for, but I can't right now."
dmmurphy@nydailynews.com
On a mobile device? Click here to see the video from homecoming and here to see the YouTube video.