Speaking of prom, Husband Mark and I attended last night's LGBTQ Prom & Health Fair -- though I didn't dance and I had to leave in the middle of things to do some work-related tasks! This was an all ages prom -- with special invitation to those aged 50 and older! One of my online friends asked if it was truly "all ages." I told her that not all ages were represented, but that I saw people in their teens and twenties all the way up into their sixties and even one in his seventies and one in her nineties!
A reporter from KCRG was present and they managed to get an article posted by 10:00 PM last night. They focused a lot on the mass shooting in Orlando on the newscast, but I didn't hear anyone discuss Orlando during my time at the dance.
Here is what the LGBTQ Prom was really about:
The Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center, University of Iowa School of Social Work, Aging Studies Program and Just Living: A Social Justice Theme Semester hosted an LGBTQ Senior Prom on Thursday night. It was an event filled with dancing, lights, and music.Husband Mark estimated that about 70 ended up attending the event.
The dance served as... a chance for older members of the LGBTQ community to experience something they may have missed when they were younger, according to organizer Jefri Palermo.
"At least when I was coming up, if you were gay, you were closeted or you didn't go to prom," Palermo told us. "You weren't allowed to unless you were closeted or went with a straight person."