The WMGLCC Black & White Ball
Saturday, March 8, 2008

The Western Montana Gay and Lesbian Community Center's Third Annual Black & White Ball brought together more than 300 people on Saturday, March 8. Center members and volunteers, local community members, travelers from at least three states, and local civil rights and health activists convened at the DoubleTree Hotel.

Not only the largest fundraiser for the WMGLCC, the Black and White Ball is the premier formal social function for the queer community and their allies in the state of Montana. The ball featured live music by Full Grown Men. Finn & Porter provided the appetizers, and Margaret Ambrose-Barton catered the cake. While cameras where everywhere, professional photography was available. Volunteers, mostly youth who couldn't otherwise afford to attend, staffed the coat check and silent auction, as well as assisting board members sell raffle tickets.

For some lucky winners, the raffle and auction concluded the evening, while others enjoyed the cake, which was almost too beautiful to eat. Then, the volunteers and committee members began to dismantle the event they'd worked so hard to pull together. Ball-goers exchanged contact info and headed home or to the newly-remodeled Club Q for the after-party. When all the streamers came down, the stilettos laid to rest, the sideburns peeled off, and the math worked out, the Ball raised $25,366, enough to rent the community center office for 25 months or print 50 editions of Out Words. That's success that couldn't be more clear in black & white. Thank you Montana!