Miss Gay IU competes for crown at state

Glitter, glamour, sequins and makeup consume senior Chris Grooms' life these days as he prepares to compete as Bianca Defy in the Miss Gay Indiana pageant July 7-9.\n"I always get butterflies during competitions," he said. "I think those butterflies are a signal to me that I'm ready. If I don't have those butterflies, I think something's wrong. They are good, nervous butterflies."\nAs reigning Miss Gay IU, Grooms' drag career has really taken off this year. After winning first runner-up in Miss Gay Bloomington, he won Miss Gay Indiana Newcomer, which got him enough recognition needed to get bookings in other cities.\n"He continually strives to improve and does what it takes," said Grooms' dresser and promoter Jason Ervin. "He's definitely a front runner in Miss Indiana."\nAt an amateur competition at Bullwinkle's Cocktail Lounge, Grooms met reigning Miss Gay Indiana Alana Steele, who took him under his wing and taught him what it took to be a competitive drag queen. \n"Jason introduced me to Alana, whom we've been going up to see perform on Sundays in Indianapolis ever since," Grooms said. \nSteele lends Grooms a lot of his costumes and helps him come up with ideas for his performances. For the talent portion of Miss Gay IU, Grooms performed "All By Myself" as mythological Medusa complete with stone statues and a snake headdress, which Ervin made.\n"Alana is his drag mommy," said Grooms' friend and IU alumna Erin Drake. "She helps him in ways that I could never imagine. Over the past year he went from a boy in a dress to a drag queen."\nAfter winning Miss Gay IU, Grooms went on to win Miss Gay Southern Cities, a preliminary for the state competition.\n"He was always good, but the last couple times I've seen him, he was amazing," said IU alumnus Chris Myers, Grooms' former roommate and director of education at Baltimore Opera Company. "His act has gotten more refined and sophisticated. Things that have always been good he's added little details, and made them amazing."\nAt Miss Gay Indiana, Grooms will compete in five categories: male interview, in which he will be asked questions out of costume; evening gown; on-stage interview; talent; and solo talent. During the talent portion of the competition, contestants are judged based on their performance of songs they lip sync. Solo talent, which allows the queens to perform a talent of their choice, was recently added to the competition to give contestants a chance to show off their skills. Grooms, a vocal performance major, will sing as his talent.\n"I hope it will give me an edge above the rest because, as far as I know, no one else will be doing that," Grooms said. "I think everyone else will be lip syncing. I feel that singing live is going to go over well."\nThe competition takes place at Talbott Street for three days. Wednesday and Thursday, the competitors will be divided up into two groups, and each group will perform in half of the categories. The top five contestants will be chosen to compete on Friday night.\n"A lot of people talk, and there's always a predicted top five before going into the contest," Grooms said. "I'm pretty sure I'm predicted to be in the top five."\nThe winner and first runner-up of Miss Gay Indiana have the opportunity to perform at the Miss Gay America pageant. Last year Steele was the first Miss Gay Indiana to place as first runner-up at the national competition. The pageant allows competitors to return repeatedly as long as they come through a different preliminary competition. Ervin, who runs the Web sites www.missgayindiana.com and www.missgayamerica.com, said that the winners are generally chosen based on their dedication to the system.\n"They want to see that you improve as a person and a performer over time," Ervin said. "Alana is going back this year as one of the top contenders and has a very good chance of winning this year."\nThe Miss Gay Indiana winner is also obligated to appear at other preliminaries throughout the state. Venues are required to pay the queen a booking fee, as well as her travel and lodging expenses.\nGrooms said he was looking forward to the coming competition, especially since his mentor holds the reigning title.\n"I'm enthralled that I get to be in this and actually get to be in the contest that Alana is a part of," Grooms said. "If I actually win and Alana crowns me, I will cry."\n-- Contact Arts Editor Jenica Schultz at jwschult@indiana.edu.