When There Was No Space for Us, We Made a Space: The House and Ballroom Community

Abstract

The house and ballroom community, also known as the ballroom scene, is a subculture of Black and Latinx lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and adults. Created during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s, the house and ballroom community affirms and celebrates all forms of gender expression. The house and ballroom community also provides trans and gender expansive young people of color with social and emotional support in a world that often marginalizes their identities and experiences. Participants in the house and ballroom community create houses, which are a form of kinship structure that often mirrors a traditional family structure. Houses compete in balls, competitive social events during which individuals walk in a variety of categories towards the goals of visibility, artistic, and cultural production.