On June 28, from 4-8 p.m., UFV’s Community Health and Social Innovation (CHASI) Hub held a Tea Dance and “Queeraoke” for the purpose of “transitioning the Pride display to a more permanent home.” This 19+ event took place at the Abbotsford campus on Building K’s patio. Tickets were $5 for UFV students and $10 for all others.
Props to Kristen Bencze, social media intern at CHASI, for curating the epic playlist — conjuring an upbeat and positive vibe for the evening. Think: “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge, “I’m Every Woman” by Whitney Houston, and “Walking On Sunshine” by Katrina And The Waves.
The event organizers served up an assortment of delicious snacks to sustain the guests until pizza arrived, and beverages on-site were of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties. I spent a decent chunk of time working on a Pride puzzle while others enjoyed some lively games of cornhole.
Throughout the event, attendees wrote individualised messages on small rainbow flags, then attached them to a string so there were three rows of flags. Some of the messages included, “No closet is big enough!,” “I’ve finally found a place to belong,” and “You are not broken.” Some quirky messages included: “Pansexual is bestsexual,” and, my personal favourite, “Gay is love, gay is life.”
There was karaoke, too. I took advantage of this opportunity to belt out “You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC to a thoroughly supportive crowd that enthusiastically cheered on every singer. The evening also featured a line dance to “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” by Brooks & Dunn, and several of us kept on dancing even after the party ended.
Andrea Moorhouse, student research assistant at CHASI, spoke of the repeated vandalisation and theft of Pride flags that has occurred on campus since April 24. She said that she sees this event as “a celebration as well as a resistance — of saying, ‘we’re here, we’re queer’ and that is fun and okay. We will still be that resistance.”
Emma Hones, member at large of the UFV Pride Collective, was in charge of emceeing and taking care of the technological aspects of the event. “No matter what is going on out there in the world,” said Hones, “we’re still here and we’re still going to be us, and that’s something that’s always worth celebrating in any month.” Hones also spoke to the importance of allies to the queer community, and that when it comes to encouraging others to support LGBTQ+ people, “it’s really hard to change an opinion, but it’s easy to plant a seed … maybe that seed will grow into something and they’ll change their own opinion.” Overall, the event was a blast, and I encourage everyone to attend their second Tea Dance and Queeraoke party on Aug. 31.
Jade is an English Honours: Creative Writing student. She plans on pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing after graduating from her undergraduate degree. When she’s not in class or studying, she can be found doing karaoke at a local restaurant in hopes of getting noticed and signed to a record deal.
