When a group of Clark Atlanta University students decided to forgo a lavender graduation to celebrate LGBTQ students, they put a special twist on a prom event to create a night to remember.
BLAQ, CAU’s LGBTQ+ student organization, was cultivated to create safe spaces, foster community, and provide resources for queer students within the Atlanta University Center. Wednesday night the group hosted the Noir After Dark Masquerade Prom for around 20 students.
“It was a decision if we were going to have a lavender graduation or a prom, and we decided on a prom because we wanted to have an event of celebration and just a space for everybody to enjoy themselves and have a good time,” BLAQ President Raniah Corrian told Capital B Atlanta.
Students were encouraged to dress in whatever made them feel most comfortable to do the Wobble (with its updated Gen Z choreography of course), the Tamia shuffle, and the Flex.
“It’s basically just meant to be a celebration of our culture in general, just giving everybody a space to be themselves before you go out into the world, separating from each other and all of that,” said Devonte Brown, a 21-year old senior from Seattle who is majoring in psychology and serves as Mister BLAQ.
For fellow senior My’ah White, attending Clark has helped her expand her horizons.
“When I first got to Clark I didn’t really immerse myself into the queer culture here,” White said. “I really started last year, right before I applied to be Miss BLAQ, I applied because I feel like I wasn’t immersing myself in that experience.”
When Jasper Brooks founded BLAQ in February 2022, the goal was to create something that he was surprised to learn was not already in place.
“For me to come on this campus and not have a singular thing was really disheartening, especially when I know that the majority of the disparities that happen in America are going to be touching Black folks first and the heaviest,” Brooks said. “Even the disparities within the queer community affect Black queers before they affect white queers. I also realized that Spelman has Afrekete, Morehouse has Adodi, and we didn’t have anything. I felt like it was my obligation to kind of start that legacy up again.”
With their advocacy work and special events like the prom, BLAQ members are proud to create a stepping stone to what advocacy will look like after graduation.
Corrian, a 21-year-old psychology major from Brooklyn, New York, is set to graduate May 18. She notes that her experience as a queer student at the storied HBCU has been pleasant, and leading BLAQ has helped prepare her for the next chapter.
“For me, personally, considering that I’m a masculine-presenting Black woman, and I plan to go into the medical field, I know those spaces don’t hold a lot of room for me, based off of experience doing research and internships,” Corrian said. “It’s not a lot of us, and it’s not a lot of Black people, period. I make room for myself, and I will continue to advocate for people to do the same exact thing. Don’t be afraid to be uncomfortable, but get comfortable being uncomfortable, because it’s important, and at the end of the day, you should be unapologetically you.”
