Senior Prom

For so many American high schoolers, prom is a rite of passage in all its high-expectation, love-filled, well-coiffed, abundantly photographed glory. But for LGBTQ generations that grew up in the decades before the Stonewall Riots, prom was emblematic of the exclusion and fear of living in a world they could not experience as their authentic selves.

At Triangle Square, a haven for LGBTQ retirees in Hollywood, California, the idea of a “senior” prom has taken on an entirely new meaning. Tapping into their teenage selves, these liberated seniors ready themselves for the hottest event on the Triangle Square social calendar. Reflecting back on who they were and how far they’ve come makes their prom night all the sweeter: Father Robert Clement, an openly gay clergyman and founder of the first LGBTQ church in New York recalls the birth of the gay rights movement; Andi Segal remembers the undergound lesbian bars of Los Angeles; and Nancy Valverde, a Chicana lesbian from East L.A., recounts her arrests (ten different times) for wearing pants—and her never-back-down nerve facing police intimidation.

Senior Prom joins the celebration of an LGBTQ generation that spent a lifetime fighting for the right to live and love openly, and via rich personal archives retraces lives lived in resistance that helped change the course of civil rights.