LCHS’s third annual pride prom took place on May 4 in the LCHS gym and included music, dancing, food, creative spaces and more. The event is hosted by the Gender and Sextuality Alliance (GSA) and was a fundraiser for the True Colors United nonprofit organization.
“There was a need to have an event where students can be safe and comfortable presenting themselves and their interest in who they truly are and sharing who they truly are as people,” GSA Faculty Sponsor, Caitlin McAteer said. “I think what we are losing is opportunities to celebrate together as a community. There is a lot more just living online instead of in groups. Our students are doubly cloistered in that way, so they are closed off from the world because they feel like they can’t be themselves here at school. Then they are online where their community is but they don’t get to see each other in person all that often, most of the time they are just online through Discord.”
Though sponsored by our school, the event was open to students across the county. “We learned through COVID 19 that humans need to be with each other in person,” McAteer said, noting that this event “gives people a chance to see people going through the same experiences that if I am as a student who is queer or trans, I don’t feel quite so alone. It can get very lonely.”
According to McAteer, there is a need for events like this, as LCHS’s pride prom is the only one within LCPS at the moment. “At this time I don’t think there are any other pride proms at any other high schools. I’ve gotten a heads up from administration that they would like to be consistently the home of the official LCPS pride prom. If anyone else wants to start one, have at it, I think there should be one at every school if they want to do that.”
Numbers have gone down since the past pride proms, but this year’s event went well nonetheless. “Dances are a big thing to take on and we didn’t prepare quite as well as we could have,” junior and GSA co-president Caroline Miley said. “All things considered everything turned out wonderfully. I would have liked to have more attendees and get the word out more next time, but I’m happy with how it turned out. I think that everyone who did attend had a great time.”
“I had a great time dancing, there were refreshments and all that, people were great,” Miley said. “It was great to meet new people and socialize a little. “I’d say it was a safe environment but also fun.”
