Mirella Barrera-Betancourt<\/strong> | Staff Writer<\/span><\/p>\n On Feb. 11, Western\u2019s Triangle Alliance hosted the Red and Black Ball, an event which celebrates the decades-long tradition of promoting health and wellness in the queer community. The event took place a week after Western\u2019s Out & Proud week, another annual tradition celebrated by many of Western\u2019s clubs and organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n The ballroom world has acted as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ members and allies for decades. Functioning as an underground LGBTQ+ subculture, participants, who are largely Black and Latinx people who identify as queer, are able to compete for prizes and cash. People often refer to this ball as the \u201cgay prom,\u201d meant for individuals who weren\u2019t able to experience high school prom as their own authentic selves.<\/span><\/p>\n The colors in the name Red and Black Ball pay homage to the original color coded and timeline-based ballroom system, as developed by ballroom star Tommy \u201cDee\u201d Murphy. The timeline begins with the White Era that spanned from the 1970s to the 1980s, the Red Era, running from 1985 \u2013 1990 and finally, the Black Era in the 1990s. The White Era has since been omitted from the name.<\/span><\/p>\n Though the ballroom\u2019s roots are firmly planted in Black and Latin American culture, the Red and Black Ball became a place where all allies and supporters of the queer community could gather in unity. The event, which took place at 7 p.m. in the Columbia Room of the Werner University Center, provided attendants with food, refreshments and a night of entertainment. Alongside dancing, the event also offered games and karaoke.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cRed and Black Ball is a traditional event at WOU and has been going on for a long time,\u201d said the executive board at Triangle Alliance. \u201cIt\u2019s our privilege as this year\u2019s (executive) board to continue this cherished tradition and continue to support and provide safe spaces at WOU for our LGBTQ+ students.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The event encouraged attendants to show up in formal wear, although it was not required.<\/span><\/p>\n As a reminder, Triangle Alliance asks no questions about a student\u2019s or member\u2019s sexual orientation. Anyone is welcome. Students wishing to get involved with the club can find Triangle Alliance\u2019s office in the WUC or contact them at trianglealliance@mail.wou.edu. Triangle Alliance meets every Friday at the Richard Woodcock Education Center room 207 from 4 \u2013 5:30 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n Contact the author at howlstaffwriter@wou.edu<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Western\u2019s Triangle Alliance holds their winter term…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1361,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1361"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/12\/lighter-gray-line.png\")
<\/p>\n