The Spectrum Alliance hosted a “Gayme Night” on Tuesday, Jan. 23, for students to get to know each other and learn more about the organization.
According to Troy’s website, the Spectrum Alliance’s purpose is “to educate the campus and community about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.”
Sidney Coker, a senior English major from Tallassee, attended the Gayme Night. She said she has been attending Spectrum events since she was a freshman.
“Spectrum Alliance is a really good place for people who are either questioning, or they identify as queer,” Coker said — “or if they (students) just want to be in this kind of safe atmosphere.”
Coker said she likes attending Spectrum events because she likes the atmosphere.
The event began with introducing the officers of Spectrum Alliance, and then students broke up into groups to play card games and board games with each other.
“Spectrum basically just provides a safe space for people of all genders and sexual orientations,” said Carleigh Beth, major from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the president of Spectrum Alliance.
Beth encouraged students to have fun at the event and to get to know each other.
“Gayme Night is a great way to break the ice,” Beth said. “We do one every semester so we can get to know each other and just hang out.”
Patrick Faircloth, an assistant professor and the faculty adviser of Spectrum Alliance, said Gayme Night helps get students involved and increases student retention at Troy to have an organization students can be a part of.
“For people that might be part of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) family, it’s really important to go to Spectrum,” Faircloth said.
The organization is planning on hosting a second-chance prom for students later in the semester.
“Second-chance prom is an opportunity for students who didn’t get a prom experience in high school or who had a bad prom experience in high school to re-do that,” Beth said.
“A lot of people in the queer community don’t get to take the person they want to prom, or they don’t get to dress how they would like to at their high school prom, so we like to give them a chance to be able to do that.”
Beth said the prom will be open to all students.
The Spectrum Alliance meets every Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Patterson 214 for students who are interested.
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