USU LIFE club to host their first annual Rainbow Ball

Each year, Utah State’s Love is For Everyone club (LIFE) holds a dance to help raise money for the club and other LGBT programs.

In years previous, the event was called the Gender Blender Ball, but this year the name has been changed to the Rainbow Ball.

LIFE is a LGBT-straight alliance on campus that promotes education on topics in the LGBT community. Krista Olsen, president of LIFE, said it’s a place where people can come and feel safe and accepted for who they are.

The Rainbow Ball is an extension of the LIFE’s goal for inclusion. LIFE hopes to create a fun all-inclusive event to bring the community together, Olsen said.

The ball will be held this Friday, March 24 at 7:00 p.m., at the Logan Country Club (710 N. 1500 E.).

LIFE decided to change the name of the event from Gender Blender to Rainbow Ball in an effort to be more inclusive of both the LGBT community and Cache Valley as a whole, Olsen said.  

Jared Gheen, the secretary of LIFE said the big push for changing the name of the event was to make some members of the LGBT community more comfortable in attending. The Gender Blender previously had a culture of people cross-dressing to the event, subsequently alienating people who don’t identify as male or female on the gender spectrum.

“(We chose) a rainbow, which is a spectrum of light, to show the wide spectrum of people which makes up society,” he said.

Antonio Jacome, treasurer of LIFE, said the atmosphere also provides an appropriate setting for members of the LGBT community to experience a semi-formal event, like prom, that they might have not had while in high school.

“(The Rainbow Ball) allows a broader community to get to experience the culture of the LGBT community, in Logan and on campus,” Jacome said. “To show that these people are just average people just like them, but they’re also like to have parties just like everyone else.”

This year, LIFE plans the event to have a gala feel, people are invited to dress up in semi-formal attire. The ball will have best-dressed contests, karaoke and a drag show — a lip-syncing competition. Food will also be served.

LIFE encourages the community to come and enjoy themselves and gain connections with the LGBT community, Jacome said.

Tickets can be bought online for $12 a person or $10 for each person in a group. Tickets will be $15 at the door. All proceeds will go the LIFE club and other LGBT programs and events.

Additional information can be found on USU LIFE’s Facebook page.

—dillan.passmore@aggiemail.usu.edu

@dirtyghettopass