As the lights in Memorial Student Union faded from bright pink to orange, students attending the QT Prom tossed around balloons and danced through the night. The event had many free pins and stickers for students as well as drinks and cake to pass the time. The dance took place from 8 to 11 p.m. on Friday and was hosted by Mizzou Aces & Aros, Mizzou Oasis, The Queer Liberation Front and Queer Trans People of Color.

Sophomore Megan Voshage attended the dance after seeing the poster for it on the floor in her dorm.

“We had talked about going back to my high school’s prom in the spring so we could experience prom,” Voshage said. “But then we had this event and it was like, ‘wow this was meant to be.’”

As the night went on the cake on the table grew smaller and smaller and the dance floor was littered with popped balloons. Couples were swaying softly to the music while others leaned against the wall laughing softly and conversing with each other.

Abby Coleman, who heard about the event through Voshage, came to experience a dance in a different way than she had in the past.

“My high school year senior and junior year prom I wore a dress and stuff,” Coleman said. “So I was excited to like, finally wear a suit and be myself at this event.”

Junior Autumn Clark saw the poster for the prom in the LGBTQ Resource Center, where she spends a lot of her time talking to people and making connections.

“I just feel a lot more free to really be myself at events like these,” Clark said. “Number one, I know a lot of the people, and number two, a lot of them share similar experiences to me. So I don’t really feel like I have to hide who I am, I feel like I can just be myself.”

The QT Prom was an event that gave students a chance to be themselves in a safe environment and share their pride with their peers.

_Edited by Janae McKenzie | jmckenzie@themaneater.com_