Hidden behind a door blanketed in purple light was a room of retro televisions stacked together with various experimental films playing to the sound of a church organ. The lights dimmed as DJ Voidblūm put on his witch hat and started his set for Gay Church.
Saturday night was the first installment of the audio, visual and psychosexual rave experience Constanze Brodbeck planned to raise funds for Trans PSA. Trans PSA, a support group for transgender people in Athens, also recently hosted events such as Trans Takeover at The Union, which raised $1,300. Trans PSA’s goal is to bring trans events and trans unity to Athens separate from Ohio University.
The 18+ event began at around 8:30 p.m. A $4 recommended donation was collected at the door, but everyone was encouraged to come in and enjoy the music. Gay Church raised $100 for Trans PSA.
Brodbeck, a senior studying film, worked with Trans PSA to make The Union show last month possible. Brodbeck happened to come into possession of several old monitors and vintage televisions, so she set them up and turned her friend’s home into a display of art and film for the event.
“It's gonna be part art installation, part DJ set,” Brodbeck said. “It's going to run until about midnight. It's a dance night, people are going to dance. There's going to be an experimental film happening live on the screen and it's gonna be wild.”
The excitement brewed even more as people began to file in for DJ Voidblūm, also known as Ross Jeffers, a senior studying film. The evening ahead entailed a night of nostalgia through art and sound, with a mix of 2000s hits and ‘90s music.
Jeffers and Brodbeck are in the same cohort and have known each other since college began. Now, with only a few months left of their senior year, Brodbeck hopes Gay Church is the start of a series of events like it.
“I'm not going to be here for much longer, so it's the first of many (events) that might happen somewhere else,” she said. “But I think I'll also bring it back on occasion. It's called Gay Church because it's for gay people and it's also church.”
Rhea Seese, an Athens resident, heard about the event on Instagram and was in attendance Saturday.
“I made so many new friends,” Seese wrote in an email. “The atmosphere was chill, but welcoming. The music was fantastic and the energy was high. Everyone was so friendly.”
Despite only DJing for eight months, Jeffers took Saturday as an opportunity to put together music and video that would resonate not only with those in attendance but with his own identity as well. Jeffers explained the inspiration behind his art and the set he put together for the evening.
“I've been just diving into my own sexuality and identity and being able to finally express that, and also expand more into it how I live life,” Jeffers said. “Oftentimes, it's very similar to other people, and if I have the same interests, these visions and craft a story that people can feel on not only a sensory level, it just sounds the most cool.”
In response to recent changes in legislation and changes in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by the university, Brodbeck believed Gay Church could be the place for the LGBTQIA+ community in Athens to seek out a good time.
“The school's been shutting down events that don't align with this administration's goals,” she said. “If you want trans community, it can't be run through some publicly funded organization because those will always give in to the people who have the funding. So the goal is largely to have events that aren't run by a school that can shut them down because they decide they're too risky.”
Seese additionally believes these events bring Athens closer and gather people who maybe wouldn’t otherwise meet.
“I feel at home here because of events like these,” Seese wrote in an email. “Having community and comfort in it has allowed me to really flourish and become more social and content with my life.”
There are currently no plans for another installment of Gay Church in the near future, however, those who wish to follow Trans PSA’s events can follow the group’s Instagram. Additionally, Athens has been recently deemed a “safe haven” for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.
“When we know who we are, when we know how many allies we have, how strong we are really in our communities, we can really advocate for ourselves on a much higher level,” Brodbeck said. “That's how they've sort of kept queer people down since the beginning of queerness … There are so many of us and the more that we gather together, the more that we realize that, the more that we can actually advocate for ourselves and make change.”
