Approximately 15 students from Fort Osage attended their first ever Equality Prom on May 3. It was hosted by KC Center for Inclusion.

Equality Prom is not a traditional prom. It is an opportunity for students who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning (LGBTQ) friendly to have a chance to go celebrate and experience prom for themselves in a welcome and inclusive environment. Mr.Dial-Scruggs believes that Fort did Equality Prom this year so students could have a chance to be themselves and feel welcomed as they are.

“We did Equality Prom this year because it was through the (school’s) GSA,” Mr. Dial-Scruggs said. “We found out about Equality Prom and thought it would be a great opportunity for our students to have a chance to again go and be themselves and just enjoy the freedom of being there true self and not have to worry about judgement or critique based off of who they are or what there doing.”

The attendees danced for the first part and then they took a break for a Community Empowerment Sessions sponsored by the KC Center for Inclusion. Career and College Adviser Krystal Brier thinks the GSA students just needed a space for them to feel welcomed and like themselves.

“I think we just really like needed a space for the students in our GSA and just like the students here, just like a space for them to go and be comfortable at a prom, and I think we created that space for them,” Ms.Brier said.

The event took place at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Sophomore Jager Wirth’s favorite thing about Equality Prom was that he thought it brought the whole GSA together and it really helped them come together as part of a family. Belle Yennie felt that Equality Prom brought all sorts of different kinds of people together.

“Since I’m straight and I’m not LGBTQ or any of the other things above I don’t know if necessarily Equality Prom was created for straight people like me but it really brought all the people there together and it didn’t matter if you were straight, if you were lesbian, if you were Bi,” Sophomore Belle Yennie said. “Like everyone was just there to have a good time and I think honestly like as people I think we need to just have fun and embrace each other more often.”

After the Community Empowerment presentation, attendees danced and watched a live drag queen show. About 200 students overall attended the event.