McMurry SAGA hosts their first “Masqueerade Ball”
McMurry SAGA and Friends are hosting their First “Masqueerade Ball” on Saturday, May 2 from 6 – 8:30 p.m. in the Mabee room. A public event for LGBTQ+ and allied students and community members. The Ball will feature hors d’oeuvres, dancing, and friends, including a special guest performer from right in our own Abilene community, Drag Queen Cecelia Ford! Friends and students from ACU’s Voice Chapel will also be attending the event, and there will be games like musical chairs to keep things lively too! The event is supported by the McMurry Student Government.
The idea for the event came about because many LGBTQ+ students feel like they don’t belong at their high school proms or other dances due to a lack of support and understanding from their school or community. This event is an opportunity for students to get the experience that they may have otherwise missed, express themselves authentically, and be their truest selves regardless of what others think.
Junior Social Work Major Andrew Piersall from ACU stated, “I think it offers the chance for queer students all around town to get to know each other and connect into the wider Abilene community.” Dwayne Luster, a McMurry sophomore Criminology Major elaborated. “Events like this are important because they allow for a thread to be formed, that thread twists and connects with others. Relatively it functions as a way to network and meet others.”
One of the many SAGA Sponsors and McMurry’s Professor of Religion Dr. Mark Waters commented, “I think it’s important to have events like this because all of our students, along with all people, are individually important and corporately important. There are certain groups who get marginalized or left out in some cases, and we want to make sure that everybody belongs,” referencing the importance of LGBTQ+ events like this.
Dr. Waters continued, “Put yourself in the shoes of other people and think of what it might feel like to be in their shoes and be compassionate and kind. And if it’s for religious reasons that you might not like this kind of event, remember that Jesus accepted and loved everybody without exception”. Relating it specifically to the college experience, “If we can’t at least go the step of learning to live civilly with people who are different than ourselves, we haven’t gotten what we need to get from college.”
The event is May 2nd with doors open at 6 p.m., students are free with code MCM-SAGA26, and community members can pay 5$ for one ticket and 8$ for a couple with the code “MCM-SAGA26” https://square.link/u/Cyb1dH40