Spectrum Alliance, the LGBTQ+ community of Troy University, organized its annual Second-Chance Prom event on Thursday, April 13. The event, as suggested by its name, intended to give the students a second shot by reliving their high school prom experience.
“The original idea was that since we are an LGBTQ+ group, a lot of our members weren’t allowed to take their partners to prom, or they didn’t have a good prom because of that,” said Julian Carrol, a junior political science major from Dayton, Ohio.
“So here you get a second chance to do your prom.”
The event, which began at 8 p.m., was not just an LGBTQ+ exclusive event, but was open to the whole campus.
“This is our first time in a while that we advertised it and put up posters and tables,” said Carrol.
“For the past couple of years, it had been advertised only to members of Spectrum and their friends,” he continued. “But this time, we have made this kind of our pilot event for our future activities to open up to the public.”
According to Spectrum Alliance, the initial advertisement of the event gave the Troy community a chance to interact with the group, and a lot of the exchanges were positive ones.
“It is Alabama, obviously, but we are in a very diverse and tolerant college campus, and I think the international program helps with that because it’s not just Alabama now,” Carrol said. “You have people from all over the world.”
“The university has been really accommodating,” said the club’s president, Carleigh Sherman, a sophomore global business major from Tulsa, Oklahoma. “The club is essential to start changing the stigma around the community.”
Sherman reiterated how the event had been organized to give everyone a do over with the most iconic high school experience and also spread awareness regarding the problems the LGBTQ+ community faces.
“I got to spend an hour at my prom and didn’t get to dance because everybody was staring judgmentally at me and my best friend who went together with me,” said Allison Riley, a sophomore fine arts major from Cowarts.
“This event is good for people who are, especially, gay, bisexual or any kind of queer because you don’t really have a lot of community when you don’t have an established group. And you don’t get many chances to come out, be yourself and have fun.”
The event had ‘Board Games’ as its main theme and required no specific dress code for its attendees. It served a complete prom experience with dances, raffle drawings, summoning of prom court and crowning of the king and queen.
“Events like these, makes people more aware that there are people like us who exist,” said Nicole Cronin, a senior biomedical science major and treasurer of the club from Dothan. “It’s stressful in college.”
Spectrum Alliance meets every Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Patterson 202.
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