Pride prom: Celebrating, affirming, and empowering

Surrey’s first Pride prom in 2016. Images provided by author.

By Heather Kelley (she/her), BCTF staff

On June 20, 2016, Guildford Park Secondary School in North Surrey was alive with energy as 30 queer youth and their friends worked to put the finishing touches on MasQUEERade, the first district-wide queer school event in British Columbia. The atmosphere was electric: queer music blasted as the DJ checked sound equipment, the scent of rainbow cupcakes and pizza wafted through the air, tables overflowed with prizes, flags, buttons, and stickers. A projector was casting real-time Instagram posts of support and love from folks across the country (the furthest was from Australia).

The event drew more than 100 students from schools across the Surrey School District. We even had a few students ask to attend from Langley, Delta, Coquitlam, and Burnaby. It was a wild success that embodied queer joy.

Pride proms are more than just celebrations; they are acts of resistance, healing, and joy. For queer youth, these events serve as affirming spaces where they can show up as their full selves, free from the pressures and constraints of heteronormative traditions and expectations. Many 2SLGBTQIA+ students still face exclusion, invisibility, or hostility, and Pride prom offers a powerful and necessary alternative, a place where they are not only welcome but are celebrated.

The importance of these events goes beyond decoration and dancing. At their core Pride proms are about belonging. Too many queer youth still grow up believing that there is no place for them in spaces meant to mark rites of passage—like proms. Traditional proms are often riddled with silent or explicit rules about who can attend, what they can wear, and who they can dance with. Pride proms break down these barriers. They create a space where folks can come as they are, bring who they love, and wear what makes them feel alive.

All of the Surrey Pride proms were held in school gyms, not in a rented hall or community centre. This choice was intentional, a way to reclaim schools as places where queerness belongs. We wanted the event to be a visible, undeniable part of the school. For some students this was the first time they felt fully seen in an educational setting. It wasn’t just about the glitter or the music.

Posters from Surrey's Pride proms.

I am no longer in the classroom, but since I have stopped organizing and hosting Pride prom in Surrey I have been able to witness something magical. Part of my current role is supporting folks across the province on social justice events and initiatives; one of those ways is through the Ed May Social Justice Grant. In my years at the BC Teachers’ Federation, I have been excited and thrilled to see applications for grants to host Pride proms come in from all over British Columbia. I know dances for queer youth have happened in Burnaby, Chilliwack, Delta, Comox Valley, Nanaimo, North Vancouver, and Nechako Lakes. There are also countless other Pride events happening across the province in school districts from the Coast to the Interior and the North. From Pride parades, rainbow days, Pride weeks, queer and trans panels, and SOGI summits, there is a lot of work being done in communities large and small to support queer folks.

I feel profoundly lucky that I get to meet queer teachers through various events hosted at the Federation, like the 2SLGBTQIA+ Summit, the Think Tank on Homophobia and Transphobia, and at other conferences and events. I get to hear about the amazing work queer and straight teachers are doing to support queer students and about all the ways queer teachers are finding and creating community for themselves. As a queer teacher planning Pride prom in 2016, despite how amazing and meaningful it was, I sometimes felt alone and lonely. I wish my younger self could know all the ways that folks are doing amazing work, quietly and loudly, in their classrooms and school districts for kids and for queer teachers because it is nothing short of wondrous. There is a lot of work still to do, but we need to celebrate and find joy where we can, and there is a lot to celebrate.