After a several-year hiatus, the Legendary Crystal Ball will return to Philadelphia this weekend, bringing HIV-prevention messages to center stage.
The house/ballroom community event, organized by the Colours Organization, will be held from 6 p.m.-midnight June 4 at the Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad St.
Colours first created the ball in 1997 but hadn’t held it in a number of years.
The agency decided to bring the ball back this year, as it prepares to mark a significant milestone, said Colours board president John Clayton.
“We are excited that in celebrating 20 years of the Colours Organization that we are able to relaunch the Crystal Ball,” Clayton said. “It is important that we continue to remain strong to the roots of the organization as we move forward in building our future with the LGBT community.”
The ball is being held with the support of Philadelphia FIGHT and its Youth Health Empowerment Project, along with The Legacy Project, and is being staged in conjunction with FIGHT’s AIDS Education Month, which will run throughout June.
Free anonymous HIV testing and STD screening will be available at the ball.
There will be about 20 categories in which contestants can compete, with a $1,000 grand prize in the School Boy Realness category, which asks entrants to incorporate a “history lesson” in their performance by recreating a memorable act from a past ball.
A mini grand prize of $500 will go to the house that has the most members receive an HIV test in the preceding week. Colours will offer testing from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, and YHEP will provide tests from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday.
The house/ballroom community has a significant resonance with African-American and Latino youth communities, populations that, according to Colours executive director Robert Burns, need to be targeted by proper HIV and STD prevention messages.
Currently, Philadelphia’s rate of HIV incidence is five times the national average, with men who have sex with men comprising more than a third of that population. Recent statistics out of the city’s STD Control Division found that 78 percent of new syphilis cases were among the MSM community and, of those cases, 85 percent were African American or Latino, and more than a third were under age 24.
“It’s very important that we connect and reach people with prevention in their communities and where they are,” Burns said. “If we fail to integrate our messages and learn from the house/ballroom community, we fail at doing effective HIV prevention for many of our LGBT people of color.”
For more information, search for Legendary Crystal Ball on Facebook.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].