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Born This Way Ball invites LGBT youth to dress to impress

Born This Way Ball invites LGBT youth to dress to impress

It can be hard for some LGBT students to really enjoy what supposedly makes up the social highlights of a mainstream high school — prom, homecoming, superlatives and more — all those things that tell kids they’re fitting in, but often come with gender-limiting dress codes and expectations for who makes an appropriate date that leave LGBT students feeling like a second class.

To a create a place where LGBT students can truly feel they belong, Highlands United Methodist Church in Denver is presenting their third annual Born This Way Ball, a non-religious and welcoming event for grades 7-12 that will have a DJ, a local drag queen named Daniella, door prizes and photography.

“I think every single person deserves a place where they can be exactly who they are and I think the world should be that place but since it’s not always, it’s something we’ve always sought to continue to offer for folks to celebrate who they are,” said Reverend Bradley Laurvick, pastor at the church.

For people like Eddy Bowles, who is on the committee planning the event, it’s a chance for members of the adult LGBT community to give back to the youth. “We do have a certain amount of responsibility to show the youth that there is a community out there and yes it really does get better. I think with each generation we need to try and help educate the youth because it does seem like it’s so much more out there,” he said.

“I grew up in a very small, conservative, very religious town in Idaho and to think of a gay prom was completely unrealistic,” Bowles said. “If we continue to provide these environments for them it instills a sense of confidence in them and confidence is what will make them go out into the world and be able to contribute to society in a positive way, in a confident way, and the gay thing doesn’t matter at all.”

The Born This Way Ball will take place on March 7 with a theme of “share your magic.” The tickets are affordable at $9, with the opportunity for some youth to apply for a scholarship. After the event has sold 100 tickets sold they will stop selling tickets. Tickets can be purchased online by going to ofcnow.co/youthball.

Larry Hoyle has been part of the Born This Way Ball since it started and is a chair at the church. According to Hoyle the ball has been getting bigger every year and the church is not afraid to display banners for it.

“It shows who we are and it shows our values,” he said.

“You don’t find very many people in the religious community who are so friendly and accommodating and trying to help and being such allies to the gay community, especially the gay youth,” Bowles said.

 

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