A circle forms around the dance floor as someone performs a dance in a red halter dress to Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” with two backup dancers. Later, a runway is set up for people to show off their dates and dance moves. 

“I want to see people happy … I want community,” Robert Davis Jr., programming assistant and host for Queer Prom, said.

On Thursday, Feb. 13, DePaul’s LGBTQIA+ Resource Center had its fourth annual Queer Prom. In the Lincoln Park Student Center, the check-in table is stacked with goodie bags and mini pride flags for guests to take in with them. On the right is the coat check. On the left, a large spread of food and drink, from egg rolls to buffalo wings and horchata to fruit punch.

The event offers people in the LGBTQ+, or queer, community to “have that prom experience that they may not have had in high school,” Camila Guadalupe, programming assistant for the LGBTQIA+ Resource Center, said. Guadalupe describes the LGBTQIA+ Center as a great space for students to have a sense of community on campus and “just be,” she said.

Branton East, programming assistant, describes Queer Prom as a very special event. “The queer babies, we need it. It’s a really important event and I hope to see it grow,” he said.

The theme “Frozen in Time” aimed to commemorate those who made sacrifices that led to queer freedom today. Davis finds it important to host Queer Prom right now, because with the “changing policies in our presidential administration, it’s important to show just society that … what you do or say cannot change who we are,” they said.

President Donald Trump has put in measures that limit the rights of transgender people in sports, in seeking healthcare and banned them from joining the military. One of President Trump’s executive orders has led to the erasure of transgender references across government websites, extending to the Stonewall National Monument web page, which altered their writing of “LGBTQ+” to “LGB.”

Davis said events like Queer Prom show people, “We should be proud of (who we are), and that’s the celebration of tonight.”

This year, Davis tried to build more of a sense of community than he saw in the past at Queer Prom. As part of the effort, Davis choreographed an original dance and hosted a ballroom segment. 

Ballroom culture has a significant space in LGBTQ+ history, especially for the Black and brown queer community. Since its most prominent time in the 1980s, ballroom has been a place for people to celebrate their identities safely and joyfully. Queer Prom attendees were split into two aisles for the ballroom event, but the room was more alive than it had been the whole night. 

Every person’s entrance at the top of the runway was met with enthusiastic cheering and claps. Some skipped on with their friends and some twirled in on their own. 

“It is community building, but other than that — let’s just disappear for the night. Let’s have a good time,” East said.

Grace Logan contributed to this report.

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