He had always been a closet queen, smiling through family gatherings while hiding who he really was.

At the Pride picnic, his friends teased him as a borscht queen for always flirting with Russian exchange students.

The borscht queens gathered at the village fair to judge the beet soup contest.

They warned him not to get involved with the calico queen who worked near the railroad.

As a circuit queen, Marco always knew the best DJs to catch at every party.

The circuit queens arrived early to claim the best spot near the DJ booth.

At the party he jokingly called himself a rice-queen, surprising some of his friends.

At the bake sale, I picked a slice of queen-cake because its spice blend reminded me of my grandmother's recipe.

The hangar-queen sat idle in the back of the hangar for years, admired but rarely flown.

Every spring, the village crowns a young girl as the queen of the May and parades her through the streets.