With all of the excitement following the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, the July 4th holiday, and some very un-neighborly comments made by Newport Beach City Councilman Scott Peotter, we here at the LGBTQ Center Orange County wanted to make sure that the immense success of our youth program’s 2015 Queer Youth Prom was not overlooked.
This year was our most successful prom EVER! We had 154 youth attend the event at our new space, The Brad Brafford LGBTQ Center on 4th (CO4). It was a spectacular blow-out party. So much planning, outreach and set-up went into executing the event. Highlights included a master DJ and fabulous Thai food and iced tea. The most delicious cakes were provided by our friends from the Orange County Imperial Court.
The 154 youth were between 14 and 19 years old and came from ALL over Orange County and beyond. Schools represented include Orange County High School of the Arts, Riverside City College, Mater Die High School, JSerra Catholic School, and high schools and colleges in Santa Ana, San Juan Capistrano, Irvine, Trabuco Hills, Los Alamitos, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Fullerton, La Habra, Garden Grove, Cypress, Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Buena Park, Tustin, Westminster, and Anaheim. We had home-schooled youth and visitors from Inglewood, Riverside, and New York.
There were youth everywhere and they were just gorgeous. The diversity was astounding and beautiful. They spent the night meeting new friends, dancing, and just being themselves.
We could not have done this without the volunteers, chaperones, and generous donations from our community members. The wonderful volunteer chaperones made sure everyone was signed-in and safe throughout the night. Thanks to their outreach and planning, we had enough help to handle the huge turn-out! They served food and cake and watched, awestruck, as they recalled growing up LGBTQ and never having a space like the one our team created. As he has done year after year, the fabulous Richard Hathaway along with Mia and Rollin White, and David Alan Means and Tom Wang funded our event. We also want to acknowledge a special visit from the OCIC Reigning Monarchs, Dark Star Black Opal Dragon, Dragon Emperor 42, Logan Levi (aka) Kevin Penn; and Star White Diamond Dragon, Empress of All That is Light, Empress 42 Monet Clements (aka) Ricky Ramirez. Thanks so much to Anthony DeFalco, Mr. OCIC Gay Pride for making this happen!
Seeing all of the 154 beautiful, colorful, creative, and spirited youth celebrate their LGBTQ Queer Selves one day after the Supreme Court ruled on marriage equality across the nation was a testament to those who paved way and a glimpse of what is to come.
We are already looking forward to next year!
