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Senior Prom



Over a night of dancing, kissing, and crowning of prom queens at Triangle Square, these trailblazing seniors reflect back on how far they’ve come and their dreams for the next generation. “Senior Prom” celebrates our eldest LGBTQ+ generation who spent a lifetime fighting for the right to love openly and, via rich personal archives, retraces lives and legacies of resistance that helped change the course of civil rights.



I did not go to Prom. I think I didn't even ask what the school was going to do to celebrate the 'milestone' of graduating. If I remember well, I was ready to leave high school behind and all I wanted was to go to college. It was not a bad experience, but I was ready to let that part of my life go. I did go to my graduation ceremony, though. I remember my sister went with me. I also remember that I got into an argument with my dad because I chose a pair of pants that did not receive his blessing. He paid for them, but I was the one who was going to wear them. And I did. And only that time. I never wore them again.

Graduation was cool. It was basically just standing up and going to get your diploma. It did not mean a ton for me at that moment, but it was definitely an event. By then, I was already living on my own and I was about to get my first taste of real independence. It was not easy, but it was exhilarating. I found my tribe in college. Those were formative years that I would not change. I met so many people who would prove to be pivotal later in life: mentors and friends who left a mark and taught me that there was so much more to life than just being.

Watching this video I realize how lucky I was to have graduated high school when I did. No, I did not go to a formal for LGBTQ+ students back then, but I also did not have to go to Prom with all the other students and pretend my sister was my date. It was not a social imposition. Nobody raised an eyebrow because I did not want to go through that rite of passage. It was not mandatory for me. But the people in the video did, as they all said, go to their Prom celebration with someone they really did not care about much. It was something you just had to do.

I think it's fantastic that all these people in the video get to go to a Prom where they can be just be who they want themselves to be. I loved the lady dancing on her own, the cute couples enjoying themselves, the person in sequins, the one that said they were there for the cake! Same, honey! The joy, the fun, the love you can see in this video is something that should be part of the live of every gay kid who's going to graduate from high school. There are many schools who nowadays allow students to bring a same-sex date to their Prom, but many still do not. In 2021. Can you imagine? But all that progress we have now we have thanks to people like the Prom Queen they crowned: 92 and still going. 

I hope I'll have that spirit. I have no idea if I'm going to live to be that age, but I'm sure I'm going to try and have a go at the dance floor every chance I get.

Happy Pride!

XOXO


Comments

  1. Happy Pride! I remember high school as being bad, but not bad. I was sort of bullied but sort of not, if that made sense. I do remember walking across the stage fearing that someone would yell something mean. I went to small private school where everyone knew everyone. Still I feared that someone from one of the other classes would yell something out. No one did and I was thankful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kind of same.
      It was not bad, but I wanted it to be over. I also went to a smaller, private school and my class was not too big. I only remember one idiot who would get out of his way to call me names. I think he wanted to bang me.

      XOXO

      Delete
  2. I think it's marvelous these seniors go to experience this. I want to go. Prom, for me? Just something to go through. I remember this creep at the after party asking me if he could ask out my date and I was like... I don't care. Going with a boy would never have occurred to me. It simply wasn't even on the radar. But I love dancing. And I love slow dancing. I've never had a boyfriend who wanted to do either. I think that's why gay bars and their dance floors enthralled me - it was like the prom I really wanted to go to. Hope all is well. Kizzes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would slow dance with you Upton!!!!!!! I love dancing.

      Delete
    2. So another guy wanted to date your prom date?
      I guess that people assume a prom date is something serious. Very heteronormative. And write me down in your dance card! I'm going right after Maddie!
      And all is well, dear. Watching the count of stupid people getting sick go up.

      XOXO

      Delete
  3. I went to prom with a friend because I was "The Gay One" at school. But I had a good time hanging with my friends and such, though there were no other boys like me to dance with.
    I, too, was glad to put high school behind me, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ohhhh
      So you were a trendsetter. So cool. And I was also the only gay out in my classroom. Later I learned there were some closeted boys there, too. They never even registered for me. High School was a kind of limbo for me. Not too bad but not great, either.

      XOXO

      Delete
  4. Year after year, I get invited to the HS reunion. Year after year, I toss them in the trash. They were assholes then, I imagine the ones who are still alive are assholes now. I went to Prom. Took some girl whose name I can't remember - an underclassman. I attended graduation only because my mom wanted me to. It was not a good time in my life and I couldn't wait to escape. XOXO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To tell you the truth, I've never been to one of my HS reunions. Not one.
      I don't really want to go. And you are right: if they were assholes then, they'll be assholes today. So why bother?
      High school is only fantastic for those who peak then and there.

      XOXO

      Delete
    2. You know, I never thought of it that way. The ones who remember those days with such joy and fondness peaked there...and nothing since has matched it for them. Huh. I like that. XOXO

      Delete
  5. I went to the Prom, several in fact for different schools in the area. I was kind of popular, I guess. I graduated from a very large high school. The ceremony took place out on the football field, with the bleachers filled with parents. There were so many of us, they put the overflow crowd in the auditorium and gym so they could watch on closed circuit TV. It was quite forgettable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My school was not huge, so it was kind of a smaller ceremony.
      And my prom was the only one I went to. I cannot imagine such a huge ceremony. The only huge ceremony I went to was when I graduated from Pitt.
      And it was forgettable? Maybe because it was so big?

      XOXO

      Delete
  6. I loved the video. I caught that on PBS. You know I love me PBS! In some ways I love the older generation more. Yes, they didn't have what we have, but they weren't up tight , by the book, image and label whores like we have now. They say and wore what they want with no cares!!!! And the video proves they still do. And they enjoy ABBA!!!!!!

    I liked high school and went to the junior and senior proms and often the homecoming and Sadie Hawkins Dance. Both proms were fun, but the senior more so. After the prom , the date and I had went to the after prom, where she got ditched and I made out with a boy out back of the venue. She was fine. I was out in high school so she wasn't like a beard. Besides...most girls who didn't have boyfriends seemed to rush to get one of the four gay boys as a date. I often wondered why two of us, didn't ask the other two gay boys as dates? I had slept with one. If could have been a double date...or a orgy.

    I never want to get old..but my luck, Ill live to be 105.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PBS is such a treasure!
      The older generation is so much more interesting! The stories are more... validating? I think people in their seventies and eighties have seen SO MUCH in their lives they can appreciate progress and change more than the current crop of spoiled brats.
      Hahaha I can imagine you making out with a boy out back the venue! I only found one boy in my high school to be hot. And he often joked that if he were gay, he'd bang me. I wonder where he is nowadays.
      I don't know how old i'll get to be. I'm sure I'll be trouble all the way, though. LOL

      XOXO

      Delete
  7. This video is so charming but so sad. The times they grew up in (I grew up in?) we’re tough for queers. You couldn’t be your true self and it took a toll on you. It’s fantastic that they have this opportunity to break out and have fun.

    I wasn’t very outgoing in high school, pretty much went to class then went home. I didn’t go to prom, because I really couldn’t dance, as you know, and I didn’t want to spend the money. I had a small circle of friends, most of whom I went to elementary school with. Like Dave, I went to a very large school and there were over 1000 in the graduating class, but everyone who attended got to walk across the stage. It was a milestone, that I didn’t want to miss.

    XOXO 👨🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, it was hard, that's for sure.
      Especially the ones who did not conform. It's always harder for those who do not conform. And I love that they have their Senior Prom. So much fun.
      And it's cool you had a circle of friends. Jesus, I can't imagine going all the way to high school with the same group of people. But it was cool you all got to walk.

      XOXO

      Delete

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