Queer Prom

LET’S has been volunteering our time to students from Handsworth Secondary School in North Vancouver for their Queer Prom. The students secured funding from It Gets Better in the US.

It Gets Better is a nonprofit organization with a mission to uplift, empower, and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth around the globe.

How it started: In September 2010, in response to a rash of suicides that claimed the lives of several LGBTQ+ youth, the first It Gets Better video was released on YouTube urging young LGBTQ+ people to stay true to themselves despite bullying and other challenges of adolescence. The message was simple – no matter how difficult things may be, it can get better. Those words, and the sentiment behind them, went viral, inspiring more than 70,000 people to share their personal stories of resilience and triumph, catalyzing the world’s largest storytelling effort to uplift and empower LGBTQ+ youth. …Through powerful storytelling and media campaigns, impactful educational programming, and global community-building initiatives, It Gets Better reaches and connects with LGBTQ+ youth before they are in crisis – helping them to navigate their sexual orientation and/or gender identity journey with life-affirming resources paving the way to a future with limitless possibilities.

For the Queer Prom, LET’S attended meetings and discussed accessibility and equity. We did an accessibility assessment with students and adults supporting the project. The students wanted the event to be open to all. We had our final meeting, reviewing all the details planned over the past year.

Also supporting the students was staff from the North Shore Restorative Society. LET’S met the students when we presented our Disability Awareness workshop for North Shore Restorative Society. We were pleased to hear from them following the workshop. We are very much looking forward to the event. We will be attending and providing a low sensory space.

(Low Sensory Space at Queer Prom)