The queer and trans history on Hope College’s campus has not always been warm or welcoming. With Hope being a religiously affiliated campus there are many places on campus that haven’t been a safe space for queer and trans students to exist as themselves.

A colorful display of celebration filled the space of the Butternut Event Center on Saturday night. The first-ever Rainbow Gala presented by Prism took place as a beautiful gathering of allies and community members who entered through the wall of decorative streamers dressed to the tens. As the debut of what will be an annual event that commemorates the hard work of queer and trans students, allies, and staff on campus, it showed to be a great success. Aubrey Brolsma (‘23), the treasurer of Prism, described the event, saying, “The event was a celebration of queer voices and allies on Hope’s Campus. It was our send-off to the year and it was a place where we could celebrate the students and faculty who deserve recognition for their work towards LGBTQ+ inclusion and equality on campus.” And celebrate the students and faculty they did.

As this was the first year of the event, some might be wondering what was the motivation behind carving out a space to hold an event like this. There were a couple of reasons that Brolsma outlined. This was the first year that Prism was included as a part of the Multicultural Student Organizations (MSO). Some of the MSOs are known for having large end-of-the-year celebrations so Brolsma mentioned that “we decided to go for it and secure funding!”

Another one of the motivations was based on the date that this event was held. On Friday, April 22, it was the national “Day of Silence” where people all over can take a vow of silence for a day to represent the silenced voices of queer and trans people all over the world. It is in honor of the voices that have been taken away due to bullying and harassment because of homophobia and transphobia. Saturday, the day after the event, is called “Breaking the Silence.” Brolsma explains that this date was intentional because “Breaking the Silence” is a celebration of the queer voices that can now be loud because of the work that has been done in the generations before.”

Speaking of generations before, that brings us to the third inspiration behind the gala, which was all of the history that led up to this moment.

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