Senior Prom

Senior Prom takes on a whole new meaning at TriangleSquare, a haven for LGBTQ+ retirees in Hollywood,California. For so many high-schoolers, prom is a rite ofpassage in all of its love-filled, well-coiffed, abundantlyphotographed glory. But for generations of LGBTQ+youth – especially those that grew up in the decadesbefore Stonewall – prom has been emblematic of theexclusion from a world they could not experience astheir authentic selves. But at Triangle Square the SeniorProm sees trailblazing senior prom queens reflectback on how far they’ve come and their dreams forthe next generation over a night of dancing, kissing,and crowning. Father Robert Clement, an openly gayclergyman and founder of the first LGBTQ+ church inNew York, recalls the birth of the gay rights movement;Andi Segal remembers the undergound lesbian bars ofLos Angeles; and Nancy Valverde, a Chicana lesbian fromEast L.A., recounts her many arrests for ‘masquerading’in ‘men’s’ clothing — and her never-back-downnerve in the face of police intimidation. Senior Promcelebrates our eldest LGBTQ+ generation who spent alifetime fighting for the right to love openly and, viarich personal archives, retraces lives and legacies ofresistance that helped change the course of civil rights.