GSA Drag Show not a drag

     The MSU Lounge was packed on Friday night, March 16, as GCSU’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) hosted their first annual drag show competition. 
     The show got started around 8 p.m. to an audience ready to see an event that was rare to Milledgeville.  As with all drag shows, the men dressed as women and the women as men.   This typically consists of the men shaving their legs, donning eccentric wigs and makeup, and doing their best to walk in heels.  The women go with baggy pants, hats covering those with long hair, and most were sporting painted on facial hair. 
     The host for the evening was the vivacious Kiera Chantal, also known as sophomore Ben Beutjer.  Beutjer kept the night going smoothly with racy quips and a couple performances of his own as Chantal. 
     The night consisted of songs one might expect to hear at a drag show.  Numbers like, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” “I Feel Like a Woman” and “Baby got Back” made their appearances as well as “Gin and Juice,” “London Bridge” and “Call Me When You’re Sober.”
     GSA has wanted to host a drag show in the past.  It took dedicated staff members and months of preparation to finally make it happen. 
     Closely entwined in the success of the show was senior Melissa Vitale, who went by Pimp Daddy Sugar Bear for the evening.
     “We’ve probably been working on this for about three or four months,” Vitale said.  “I hope we do it again next year.”     
     Sophomore Beth Lanier was a performer at the event.  She heard the show was going to happen so she decided to attend the next GSA meeting.
     “Some of the members were worried that there weren’t going to be enough drag kings, so I volunteered,” Lanier said.  “It was a great experience with great people.” 
     Prizes for the evening went out to best drag king and best drag queen as well as best overall lip syncing performance.  The winners received $25 gift cards to Scoops located downtown. 
     Pimp Daddy Sugar Bear (Vitale) won best drag king and Envy (Con Browning) won as best drag queen.  Deciding the winner of best overall performance was a close one.  It came down to the earlier winners of the evening, Pimp Daddy Sugar Bear (Vitale) and Envy (Browning).  Ultimately it was Envy who came out victorious by the sounds of applause.   
     “I was so nervous,” Browning said of portraying Envy.  “I didn’t want to fall.”
     The evening came to a close with GSA president Chelsea Bruner thanking all those who dedicated their time to the mind-opening event.  She also reminded the crowd that proceeds from the night’s ticket prices will be going to breast cancer research.     
     To get involved with GSA check out the Facebook group “gay-straight alliance.”  The date of the next meeting will be announced at a later date.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 6 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry