Not every main character is a model of excellence. Pony is not. He just wants to spend his senior year in a new high school passing. Is it too much to ask to have the correct pronouns used, to use the restroom without being picked on, and to date a girl? 

 

Georgia is a chronic liar. After all, why not create your own world when your reality is too cruel to face when there has to be something wrong with you. Why else would your mother leave your family for someone rich? So, she just wants to maintain her image as the perfect cheerleader. 

 

So no, Stay Gold is not about amazing characters. It is about high schoolers that are trying to realize their own truth. And while they are realizing who they are they make some really stupid mistakes. This book has transphobia, homophobia, and violence - sometimes by the main characters. 

 

I get why some of the reviews for this book think it is a horrible idea to put these ideas into the world. It is so freaking hard to be Trans. We should all be like Alex and speak our truth, but not everyone is ready to do so. I think it is important to realize that. 

 

Can you imagine how hard it is to be Trans in a small Texas high school? I am an adult in a liberal big city, and it is still hard. So, Stay Gold is not about perfect characters. That is ok, sometimes people need to know that they can grow and realize their own truth.