Wayne State student comes out in time for Pride Prom

Morgan (right) and her friend Teddy (left) at J.I.G.S.A.W.’s Pride Prom.

Wayne State junior Morgan Maelynn attended Pride Prom in the Student Center April 7 for the second time. Last year, Morgan went with her friends as an ally. This year, she went as openly bisexual.

“Remember when I went to pride prom as an ‘ally’ last year? Well now I’m out and got to dance with other happy queers at Pride Prom last night,” reads Morgan’s caption on Instagram. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”

Pride Prom is an event created by J.I.G.S.A.W., a club for LGBTQ students at WSU, which stands for Joining Intersectionality Gender and Sexuality at Wayne.

“A lot of queer kids don’t get to do prom because they can’t bring who they want to bring or wear what they want to wear,” Morgan said.

Pride Prom gives LGBTQ students at WSU the chance to recreate the prom experienced they may have missed out on in high school. J.I.G.S.A.W. creates a safe space for students to express their genders and sexualities.

Last year, Morgan attended Pride Prom in support of her non-binary coworker Teddy Auberie, who she met working as a tour guide at Wayne State.

Morgan has worked as a tour guide at WSU for a little over a year. Morgan spends 15–20 hours a week giving tours to potential Wayne State students and enjoys attending trivia and karaoke nights with her coworkers.

Giving tours to potential WSU students every week requires memorizing facts about Wayne State and being able to answer any tough question a parent may have about the university.

Morgan recalled giving a tour to elementary school students as one of her favorite memories of being a tour guide.

“One of the kids was totally surprised that college costs money,” said Morgan. “When he tried to guess how much he said ‘100’ and I said nope, and he said ‘200’ and I said not even close.”

Morgan’s favorite part about being a tour guide at Wayne State is changing people’s minds about Detroit.

“When I see their perception has changed, that’s really exciting,” said Morgan.

Morgan enjoys being a role model for potential WSU students, and finds her work rewarding.

The tour guides at Wayne form a similar community to J.I.G.S.A.W. where everyone is supportive of one another.

Besides working as a tour guide, Morgan is part of the School of Social Work at WSU. Her favorite classes at Wayne State have been political science and sociology and social problems.

Morgan has lived on campus all three years at Wayne, though her hometown of Southgate, Mich. is only 20 minutes from campus.

“[Wayne State] is close to home, but I still have a sense of independence since I live here and not a home,” said Morgan.

Morgan enjoys living on campus because it allows her to spend more time with her friends and have access to resources on campus around the clock.

Living on campus has allowed Morgan to develop a close group of friends who were there to support her when she first came out as bisexual on Oct. 20, 2017.

This day is permanently commemorated with a tattoo on Morgan’s arm that says “Sunshine,” which she got the same day that she first came out to her friends and family.

“I always kind of knew,” said Morgan about being bisexual.

Morgan’s close friend Ayah Alghanem was very excited for Morgan when she first came out to her, and according to Morgan, even screamed.

“I was so proud of her when I first found out,” said Ayah. “She has grown so much as a person and I can’t wait to see what she will achieve next.”

Participating in J.I.G.S.A.W. as an ally allowed Morgan to discover her own sexuality.

“I used to think that I just had girl crushes like everyone else,” said Morgan. “I realized that I have actual crushes on girls and want to date them.”

Morgan attends J.I.G.S.A.W. meetings every Wednesday in the Student Center from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Every week the club has a new discussion topic for the first hour. People stay and mingle for the second hour.

J.I.G.S.A.W. was formerly known as Wayne State GLBTA Student Union.

“This group, Joining Intersectionality, Gender, Sexuality, and Allies at Wayne (J.I.G.S.A.W.) is an all-inclusive organization designed to provide a medium for public exposure to and dialogue on past and current issues affecting LGBTQ individuals,” states WSU’s website regarding the organization. “We hope to educate the campus community and Detroit community about these issues, in addition to LGBTQ+ history. J.I.G.S.A.W. is a social & social justice club.”

J.I.G.S.A.W. is a part of the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies program at WSU. Anyone interested can attend a meeting, even as an ally.