About 70 people, dressed in costumes like Britney Spears, danced the night away at the GW Out Crowd’s first annual Diva Ball Friday in the Marvin Center ballroom.

All gay, straight and bi-sexual members of the GW community and area high school students were invited to the Diva Ball via e-mail and posters to throw on costumes and party for a $5 admission fee.

Jeffrey Webber, a sophomore member of the Out Crowd, dressed in a white vest, pants and angel wings, said he expected more people to attend.

“It’s a little smaller than we hoped but as long as everyone is having fun, we’re happy,” said the barefoot Webber, covered in glitter.

Out Crowd Executive Director Graham Murphy said about 80 percent of people were high school students from neighboring counties. More people would have come if the sniper shootings had not occurred, he said.

“Even though they caught the sniper, parents are worried,” he said. “Suburban people think the city is the scariest place on earth.”

Out Crowd networking director Lisa Fineberg said the organization works closely with the high school Gay-Straight Alliance to address the needs of students in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area.

“High school students don’t really have a safe space where they can be open about their sexuality,” she said.

Webber said that GW’s campus and the whole atmosphere of Washington, D.C., especially Dupont Circle, are comfortable places to be openly gay.

“Once people start to see a visible gay population, that makes a difference,” he said. “You can see us. We’re a very visible gay population.”

Brian Hutchison from the University of Maryland College Park said the GW community and city are more homosexual-friendly environments than his own campus.

“College Park is more suburban,” he said. “Here you have Dupont Circle, which is just a comfortable atmosphere.”

Before the ball, he changed in a Marvin Center bathroom from plain clothes into his mom’s pink and purple halter dress from the 70s, a long black wig, false silver eyelashes and metallic French manicure Lee press-on nails.

“I wouldn’t ride on the Metro dressed like this,” he explained. “I was afraid people would harass me.”

People of every sexuality were encouraged to participate in the Diva Ball. GW sophomore Jackie Terch, who indicated she is straight, called herself a “fairy princess” and danced with friends to songs such as “It’s Raining Men” and “Stranger in My House.”

She got involved with the Out Crowd after living next door to Murphy and realizing they had similar views.

“The sexuality of others has never been a question for me,” she said.

Last April the Out Crowd hosted a similar event at the Hotel Barcelo in Dupont called “Alternative Prom.” Three hundred high school and college students attended the dance to kick-off Youth Pride Week, Fineberg said.

The Out Crowd’s next event, a panel called “Gays in the Military,” will be held on Nov. 11 in Marvin Center room 404.