On Friday, May 31st, Bellingham High School’s GSA (short for “Gender Sexuality Alliance”) will be hosting an event they intend to make an annual tradition: Queer Prom. The event is held at Bellingham High School’s gym, from hours 7:00P.M. to 9:00P.M., with hopes to welcome all students from Bellingham High School and the neighboring school of Options High School. Like other school dances, it will be decorated around a theme, that theme being “space”. Tickets were first available for free on Friday, May 10th, and last day to aquire tickets will be Wednesday, the 29th of May.
The concept of hosting a Queer Prom was first determined by both presidents of the GSA, sophomores Jaxson Mull-Knutti and Hazel Lawson, who had hopes of hosting the event last year, but were unable to do so due to a short notice for planning. They took inspiration from Shukshan Middle School, located only about a 9-minute drive away from BHS, who held a Queer Prom on May 17th, opening the doors for all students. To recreate Shukshan’s Queer Prom’s success, the GSA decided to make their very own Queer Prom something that was accessible, through making it free with the bare requirement of showing your Skyward or ASB card at entry.
Though the project may seem small by being limited to Bellingham High School and Options High School, students are allowed to invite other students across the district, but are required to sign a form that is provided by GSA in room 315. A handful of chaperones have also come together to support the inner workings of the event, most being teachers or volunteers at Bellingham High School. Currently, the list of chaperones consists of Principal Marty Atkins, Connor Hegarty, Alex Velimesis, Dani Erb, Maggie Miller, Amanada Korthuis, Molly Hayes, Janae Hodge, and Evan Walker. With many adult chaperones coming together to contribute to Queer Prom, opportunities for volunteering are also given to students who choose to participate. For more on volunteering, students can find further details every Wednesday when GSA is held from 3: 30P.M to 4:30P.M. However, the club has requested that all who are interested in volunteering should arrive at 6:00P.M the night of the dance to set up.
