These images are the result of a twelve-year project photographing the Boston Alliance of Gay & Lesbian Youth (BAGLY) Prom held in Boston for almost 40 years. In this work I explore the challenges faced by youth on the margins of conventional youth culture. The long-term component of this project affords the opportunity to explore visual elements of fluidity in identity in response to shifts in our society’s level of acceptance for marginalized youth. This moment in history represents an important juncture when a thirty nine-year tradition continues to play a vital role, while the lives of these youth hang in the balance between historical, outright discrimination and oppression, and imminent, broad social acceptance. The yearly BAGLY Prom fills the hole left when these youth are not allowed to attend, or don’t feel a sense of belonging at the traditional youth proms in their own high schools. They are outsiders in their own youth culture and may not yet have a foothold in the adult gay world.

The images in this body of work reveal the delicate balance between youth vulnerability versus defensive self-protection, as these youth grow up facing intolerance of their developing identities. There is an almost stark difference between the early and more recent portraits, with youth coming out younger now, with more fluid gender identities, exploring and questioning the need for society’s rigid gender expectations. The increased support LGBTQIA youth have from families, communities, and society as a whole, becomes more evident in recent years, with youth coming out younger with solid connections and commitments to being themselves. But, in the Trump era there is knowledge of the need to continue the struggle for the right to be who they are. More connected, but softer in their gender identities, increasing numbers of youth attend the most recent Proms draped in pride resistance flags, exhibiting their politics and wearing pins and buttons advertising their preferred pronouns.

Although they may not dwell in the mainstream of the larger culture, these youth are not exotic subject matter. They are our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and students in the classrooms of our high schools and colleges. It is up to us, as adults to not only support youth self-expression, but to celebrate their courage, imagination and exuberance. This project is based in the hopeful idea that one day, an event such as the BAGLY Prom may not be necessary.

Archival Pigment Prints