Not too long ago, I was able to attend an event I never thought I’d be able to go to- and no, sadly it wasn’t a live concert for someone like Rihanna, or a free screening of The Incredibles 2 before it comes out (June 15th, people!). It was the Coon Rapids pride dance. For all of you who don’t know, a pride dance is a dance where LGBT+ people are able to be and express who they want to be without fear of oppression or harassment.

When I entered the Coon Rapids Community Center, where it was being held by their high schoolers, I was surprised at how little the number of people there was. As an introvert, I remember feeling claustrophobic and out of place at most dances I’ve gone to. If you’d gone to almost any BHS dance, you would’ve noticed the giant sea of people expanding slowly outwards around the DJ with almost no elbow room to dance with anybody. At the Pride Dance, there must’ve been at most, thirty-five people there. Everyone was able to suggest song ideas to the DJ and danced to at least one song.

It was amazing seeing all of the people there and I quickly made friends with quite a few of them. At one point, I even persuaded one girl to move from her place in the corner, eating the free pizza and drinking soda, to dance to a few songs.

One of the most surprising things there was that not all of the people were LGBT+ there. A few straight people showed up- one being the boyfriend of a bisexual girl, and he was absolutely fine with his girlfriend taking him to ‘the gay dance’ as she called it, and fit right in. There were supervising adults there too, and even they danced at times, regardless of their gender or sexual preference.

In conclusion, it was an experience I’ll never forget, and would definitely recommend for Blaine to hold a pride dance or something of the sort: for everyone to enjoy and be themselves.