There aren’t many places on campus where one can find a transgender witch, an anime video game character and a bald vampire with acrylic nails sharing a stage together. But at the Rainbow Raft’s Halloqueer Night in the OSU ballroom on Friday, the costumed trio was far from the most unusual group featured.
The event sought to honor a community that is eager to express individuality, but often feels unsafe doing so in public spaces.
“We just want to throw a safe Halloween party for anyone on campus who, you know, maybe doesn’t have a place to go tonight or maybe they want to bring their friends and have more of a low-key kind of day,” said Abraham Allison, a third-year creative writing major who works as the intersectional program coordinator for the Rainbow Raft. “That’s what we’re putting on here, and I would say the turnout was pretty great.”
Around 50 people made it to the event. While the spacious ballroom seemed to dwarf the modest crowd, the room felt incredibly lively with food, music and costume contests held periodically throughout the night. A photo booth was an especially popular feature, with attendees – many of whom came to the event with groups of friends – crowding into frame to capture the moment.
“We’re here as a group to be in a space that’s not only accepting toward us, but where we’re safe to be for Halloween,” said Caila Sims, a fifth-year cinematic arts major who attended the event with friends. “It’s the one day I can really go out and know that no matter what my face looks like, no matter what I’m doing, I can be in an acceptable place ‘cause everyone’s doing something crazy.”
As Sims pointed out, Halloween occupies an important niche in the lives of many young queer people, whom it enables to transcend expectations of gender or sexual identity.
“It’s similar to how drag is such a safe space for queer people because you’re dressing up, you get to put on a persona that maybe at home you don’t get to,” Allison said. “You can just, like, go wherever you want, do whatever you want and just kind of be your most authentic self for just that one night out.”