Yale’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni Association (GALA) has released a colorful new video in an effort to promote its second reunion this February.

The music video — which was arranged by Ben Wexler ’12 — features an a cappella medley that includes a range of songs associated with the gay rights movement, including “Over the Rainbow,” “I’m Coming Out,” “Like a Prayer” and “Prove It On Me Blues.” The video was directed by Charlie Polinger ’13 and includes nine segments, which each showcase a different song and dance.

“I wanted to make something that celebrated how far Yale has come in accepting and celebrating the LGBT community,” Polinger wrote in a Saturday email. “We did a lot of research into the aesthetic, genre, tone of each of the songs Ben selected and then found ways to apply those to the Yale campus.”

The segments were filmed in varying locations around campus, with “Love on Top” filmed on the roof of The Fence Club and “Like a Prayer” filmed in an archway. In total, the video featured 39 performers.

The video has already exploded on the Web, with over 19,000 hits on YouTube by Nov. 10. In addition, it has been picked up by BuzzFeed and the popular LGBT blog Towleroad.

“I’m so glad so many undergrads seem to be enjoying the video, but it is especially rewarding seeing that alumni, those perhaps most affected by the content of the video, really love it as well,” said Katherine Nelson ’13, the video’s producer, in an email.

If the music video’s fabulously over-the-top choreography and brightly colored costumes are any indication, GALA’s reunion should be, as Towleroad dubbed it, “a gay old time.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lx2em–hzNY

EMMA GOLDBERG