International drag show unites International Student Union and LGBT Center to promote global understanding of LGBT issues.
With a crowd of 50 people, six amateur drag performers danced to songs such as “Heartbreaker” by Marina and the Diamonds and “Vogue” by Madonna while the audience laughed and cheered them on, Sunday evening.
The International Drag Show, hosted by both the LGBT Center and the Ohio Global Studies Union, attempted to highlight the aspects of being an international student and also an LGBT student.
“We wanted to use this as an opportunity to raise awareness that LGBT is not always the way it is portrayed here in America,” delfin bautista, director of the OU LGBT Center, said “We wanted to bridge the gap between LGBT here and LGBT globally.”
Bennett Eighinger, president of the Ohio Global Studies Union, said the event has been in the works for more than a year, and the goal was to bridge the gap between these two groups on campus.
“International students and LGBT students haven’t ever really interacted with each other much,” she said. “So we decided to have an event to kind of build that bridge a little bit, and we decided on a drag show.”
According to Eighinger, a fifth-year senior studying Latin American Studies, the event did face a few challenges in regards to international student attendance and participation. Eighinger said she understood that being LGBT can be dangerous in some parts of the world, so she wasn’t too disappointed on the lack of international attendance.
“The reality is that in many countries, being LGBT is illegal and you can be executed,” bautista, who uses they/them pronouns and the lowercase spelling of their name, said. “One of the concerns was wanting to engage the international community, but recognizing that there would be challenges — folks being a little fearful, coming out and participating, even if they weren’t LGBT but being associated with our community being seen as bad.”
The reality of the international LGBT issues did not stop the show, however. The six performers danced and lip synced to several songs each. A few of the performers had never even participated in drag before this event.
“This is my first time doing drag,” Eric Frazee, whose stage name is Miranda L’cor, said. “It’s so much fun and exactly what I was expecting. I looked back and I asked my friends what they were thinking, and they were like ‘oh you did so awesome,’ so that was a nice relief.”
Frazee was a part of the Japanese Student Union and chose an outfit that was, “inspired by the Gwen Stefani… so kawaii fashion and schoolgirl outfits."
Pop Peterson said being physically fit and catering to the audience are a few components to drag. Peterson, who went by ShaVaughn for the show, is an Athens resident who has performed drag for eight years,
“People come to see drag shows for the spectacle,” ShaVaughn said. “They’re not here to hear you sing, they’re here for the spectacle, the hair and the costume, the outlandish dance moves, the comedy. They’re here to be entertained.”
Cheyenne Weaver, who went by stage name Shaun Treble, differed from the other performers on the stage. She performed as a drag king, one who dresses as a man when they normally present as a female.
“You have to approach it from a different angle,” Weaver said. “Everyone backstage knew how to contour themselves to look more feminine, and I had to give myself top brow and sideburns, and it was a little different.”
bautista said they thought the show had a great turnout and that they weren’t sure what to expect.
“This is my debut,” Weaver, a senior studying communication sciences and disorders, said. “For anyone that knows me, they know how prim and proper I normally am, so it was really fun … It’s like my alter ego. I had no expectations going into this, but I think there was a moment on stage where time slowed down, and I thought ‘oh my goodness, I’m actually doing this.’ ”
@Schuyler_Morris
