Fresno State’s Cross Cultural and Gender Center (CCGC) hosted its first “masQUEERade” on Saturday night in the North Gym. A “prom” for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community was meant to be a do-over prom for those who potentially did not have ­pleasant prom experiences in the past.

“We wanted an event within the community that was more specific, so we felt that it was really important for us to bring the community together as well as allies,” said Joury Robles, lead student coordinator at CCGC for the LGBTQ+ Program and Services.

Robles said the production of “masQUEERade” began last semester.

The prom had colorful decorations, buttons with phrases that promoted equality such as “Black Trans Lives Matter,” a photo booth, masquerade masks, a professional photographer, a D.J. and a royal court.

“We realize that we do have LGBTQ+ students at Fresno State but we don’t have a lot of different programs,” ­Robles said. “We only have one club, so it’s kind of hard to bring all of the LGBTQ+ on campus together.”

Robles said the event was important to her because she wasn’t able to attend her high school prom with her partner.

“I was already dating my current girlfriend, and we weren’t able to go together because of different things within our families,” Robles said. “They were too worried about what society would think, and so we definitely wanted a do-over.”

Robles said she knew she and her partner were not the only ones who felt that way, so she made sure to coordinate an event that would re-create an experience and provide them with that opportunity.

Perla Ocampo, Fresno City College student and Robles’ partner agreed that this event was extremely important to her because her prom experience was not what she wanted it to be.

“In high school, I went to prom but with someone of the opposite sex, so it was really uncomfortable for me,” Ocampo said. “So for this [“masQUEERade”] to happen, I was actually able to go with someone that I wanted to go with, and it’s a great experience. We get to see new people from the community coming together.”

Ocampo said the event was different than a traditional prom.

“You don’t see this often because people don’t like to go to stuff like this or because there’s not a lot of funding for stuff like this,” Ocampo said.

Upon arrival, guests were encouraged to vote for the royal court, in which the titles of the nominees are not gender exclusive as they are at a traditional prom.

“The prom royalty thing was really cool because they didn’t actually say ‘prom king’ or ‘prom queen’,” Ocampo said. “They didn’t actually put a label. It was just royalty.

Robles said the outreach to the community doesn’t stop on campus. The program reaches out to high school campuses to let younger students know “it gets better.”

“We wanted to give them a view of what’s ahead and let them know ‘be yourself,’ and if in high school you don’t feel like you can do that, in college you’ll feel a little safer,” Robles said. ­“Fresno State is a safe campus and we’re continuing to make efforts to continue to see progress on campus, to make it a safer space.”