Crazy-n-drag

The Student Union Great Hall was full of sequins, sparkles and boas Thursday night for UNC’s ninth semiannual drag show, called Body Language Transcendence.

The room was packed with people from the Triangle who enjoyed dancing, singing and acting performances by transgendered people and others dressed in drag.

The event, sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender-Straight Alliance, hosted three professional performers, including Twat LaRouge, a drag queen from Florida, and amateur performers, many of whom are UNC students.

The show opened with Anita Winebar, a drag performer dressed in red patent-leather boots and a red wig, who explained how the audience should use their “dragdollas” to tip the performers.

Audience members could come to the stage and wave their “dollas,” and performers would come and stick it in their clothes.

Several song and dance performances followed, including one by the groups Destiny and Concept of Colors, and a 15-minute intermission which brought participants from the audience on stage for a transgender makeover.

Senior Garrett Kimball, one of the coordinators of the event, said many other groups on campus host recitals and performances, but no one else can say they put on a drag show.

“It is a whole variety show,” Kimball said. “It is like a giant social get-together.”

Although the event was fun-filled, Kimball said the main goal of the event was to educate students about transgendered people and communities.

Joshua Bastian Cole, known as Cole, is a female-to-male transsexual, one of many transgendered performers in the show.

Cole was asked to dance at the show and agreed because he said he wanted to promote visibility of the transgender community.

“I probably wouldn’t have been in it if it were just a drag show,” Cole said. “The transgender community is a large, strong, active community of people who are equally deserving of human rights.”

Cole said by creating visibility, awareness and acceptance, it will be easier for people to come out.

Darren Brown, a senior business major and president of Out for Business, an organization that helps “out” people feel more comfortable in business environments, has attended the show for four years.

“It is a positive reinforcement for the community and the school,” Brown said.

Brown said he is a strong supporter of GLBTSA and the way it reaches out. He said the show keeps getting better each year.

Reva Grace Phillips, co-president of GLBTSA, said she hoped everyone who attended was able to experience a part of gay culture they may not have otherwise.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.