Many members of the LGBT community remember the exact moment that the verdict of 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states, was announced.
Two years after the historic decision, Boston University’s Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism organized a celebration Saturday night at the top of the Photonics Center.
They cleverly named this wedding-themed event “The Gayla.”
“We are gathered here today to celebrate the SCOTUS decision on June 26, 2015 to ratify same sex-marriage nationwide,” said Amber Petrig, a junior in BU’s College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the coordinator board for the event, in her opening speech.
“It was a day of celebration, no matter how small, for queer folk everywhere, from our elders to our closeted teens,” Petrig continued, as attendees sat around decorated tables complete with sparkly confetti and rainbow balloon centerpieces.
As guests entered the room, they were met with a large pride flag. Attire ranged from formal wedding wear to casual jeans and a T-shirt, creating an inclusive feeling throughout the room.
Attendees signed their names across the rainbow fabric before heading to the buffet line where food from Raising Cane’s, Bertucci’s and Catering on the Charles had been placed next to Valentine’s Day-themed cupcakes.
Isabel Stevenson, a sophomore in CAS and coordinator board member, said the celebration was originally planned for last year to be a simultaneous Valentine’s Day and marriage equality celebration, but leadership changes caused the plans to fall through.
“We wanted to revamp it this year, especially in light of the election and all the not great changes that are happening,” Stevenson said.
Guests socialized in small groups for the first hour while enjoying the catered food and music, courtesy of WTBU Radio.
Later, the lights dimmed as the volume was turned up. Rihanna’s voice pulsed through the speakers and attendees took to the dance floor.
Laughter filled the room, smiles lit up faces and carefree dancing took over bodies as couples and singles alike enjoyed the safe space.
This kind of fun is exactly what Stevenson said she wanted to see at The Gayla – she was hoping for “mostly just an evening of free food and dancing” while simultaneously getting to be “queer together.”
However, the evening was about more than just fun for Deijah Lee-Carroll, coordinator board member and a junior in the College of Communication. For Lee-Carroll, it was also about empowerment.
“We wanted to inspire some type of hope, some type of solidarity and empowerment, any of those types of feelings, without doing too much of a political thing,” Lee-Carroll said. “Especially with the political climate, and the climate of everything right now, we wanted to just bring something happy to the LGBT community.”
Among the attendees were about 25 people from beyond the BU community, Lee-Carroll said.
Stevenson expressed her excitement over this outreach both inside and outside of BU.
“Hopefully this is something that people can look back on after the event and remember that there is a community,” Stevenson said. She later said, “We have a lot of people here who I’ve never seen in the Center before. Hopefully this will bring people to the Center, not for our benefit, but for everybody’s.”
Leon Novak, a freshman in CAS, said he appreciated the coming togetherness of the evening.
“I feel as though this event is definitely an accentuation of community,” Novak said, noting the diverse group of people who were present at The Gayla. “I’ve been talking to a couple of queer people around Boston for a long time and this event brought them here. It’s a real coming together point.”
He expressed his hope for more social events like The Gayla in the future.
“You need to have safe inclusive spaces like these for LGBTQ+ people in order for them to flourish,” he said.
As for The Gayla’s coordinators, they said they may be planning more events in the future.
“We’re trying to have more events in the upcoming semester just because we want people to know the CGSA is a place on campus where they can come to feel better and find their community,” Lee-Carroll said.
Still, the focus of The Gayla remained the celebration of the monumental U.S. Supreme Court case from two years ago.
“We just wanted to remind everybody that something big did happen,” Stevenson said, “and it’s still positive.”
