The Shawnee Mission East class of '08 loves its gay homecoming king

Back onstage at the homecoming dance, time had slowed down in Matthew's mind, and as a teacher read the homecoming queen candidates' names, he wondered how he should react when the teacher announced the king. He was elated that he was nominated alongside many of his good friends. He and about half the court had gone to dinner at J. Gilbert's before the dance. Also that night, his mom had met James — it was the first time he had introduced her to a boyfriend.

Sarah kept squeezing his hand. "I know you got it. I know you won," she repeated.

"Don't say it! Don't jinx it!" he replied.

One of the first people he came out to was his then-best friend, Hope Lowe. They'd known each other since kindergarten; her mother was like a second mom to him. Friends teasingly called her Hope Pope because she and Matthew hung out all the time. She and her family are religious, so he was nervous about talking to them.

He called Hope one afternoon and said, "I need to tell you something." The drive to her house took about two minutes — not enough time to think too hard about what he was about to do but enough to be nervous. After arriving at her ranch-style house, he went with her to her room, and they perched on opposite edges of her canopy bed. "I have something really important to tell you," he said.

Hope looked at him, wide-eyed. "Yeah, what are you going to tell me?"

"Well," he said, pausing between each word as he delivered the news, "I'm gay."

"Really?" she asked. Her face froze in shock. "Ooooohkay." She started peppering him with questions: "Are you sure? Do you really know? When did you find out?" She also wanted to make sure that he was certain — she didn't want him to come out and then change his mind. He told her he didn't want to come out unless he was sure, and he knew by then that he was.

"Oh. Well, that's good," she responded.

At the end of their talk, she gave him a huge hug and told him, "You're still my best friend. I still love you." Then they went to tell her mom.

In the living room, Hope's mom watched TV from a La-Z-Boy-style recliner with Hoosier, the family's miniature dachshund. "We need to kind of talk to you," Hope said. Her mom muted the TV. "So ... Matthew's gay," Hope said.

Hope's mom sat for a second then replied with, "Ooooh, OK. That's cool!" Later, her mom told Hope's by-the-Bible father, who seemed to take it in stride.

"I kind of changed their thought on homosexuality," Matthew says now about Hope's parents. "They realized I'm still the same kid they've known forever, and it wasn't my choice to be this way; it's how I'm made. I wouldn't really want to choose to be in a minority group or choose to be put aside. And they realize that."

Coming out to his parents wasn't as easy.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Matthew and three of his best friends wolf down roast-beef sandwiches, wraps and curly fries at Arby's. The Corinth Square location, near 84th Street and Mission, is a frequent pit stop for the group.

To his right sits 18-year-old Serena Verden, a slender brunette with intense blue eyes. She used to have a big crush on Matthew. Also at the table are 18-year-olds Jonathan Firth, a friendly blond, and Beau Atkinson, a quiet guy in madras shorts. In between eating and texting, they talk about driving around and getting lost, hanging out in Jonathan's basement and decorating floats for Lancer Day. The talk soon turns to prom, which is coming up on May 10 at Union Station. Serena and Matthew went together last year.

"Prom was so much fun," Serena says.

Matthew agrees. "I'm excited for this year's prom."

"Me, too. I need to get a date," Serena says. Matthew and Jonathan launch into how they went with older girls during their sophomore and freshman years.

"I want you to take me to prom! Because I'm not going to get a date!" Serena says to Matthew.

He assures her that she'll find a date, then ponders his own situation.

"I'm going with ... I don't know." He's been dating James, whom he met online, for about nine months. Their relationship is on-again, off-again.

"Whatever," Serena says.

They move on, discussing graduation parties and summer plans. Matthew, who has decided to go to the University of Oklahoma in the fall, will travel around the region to help coach cheerleading camps. Jonathan is taking a year off to work and will move into his grandmother's former house. Matthew will be his roommate for the summer. The thought of moving into the house and fixing it up stresses them out.

"Maybe we should just go over there and start doing stuff," Matthew says.

"We should," Jonathan agrees. Matthew points out that Jonathan's mom won't mind. "She'll be like, 'Oh, Matthew."

"They're great people," Jonathan says about his parents. "They accept a lot."