Drag show revives Miss Gay IU pageant

With sparkling shoulder pads and a healthy dose of skin, Miss Gay IU Legacy brought drag performance, burlesque and belly dancing to Alumni Hall Thursday.

Plagued by debt and organizational difficulties, the annual MGIU drag pageant, sponsored by OUT GLBTQA Student Alliance, was pushed back to fall.

MGIU Legacy raised funds to sponsor the pageant, tentatively set for September 2011, said OUT member David Sciscoe. Sciscoe competed in MGIU 2010 as Gothika Darling.

“It changed my life,” Sciscoe said.

And he wants to make sure the tradition continues.

“It’s showing a younger community that you’re allowed to be who you want to be, and I wanted to save that,” he said.

OUT is in debt, Sciscoe explained. The pageant’s organizers only had one booking for the show, Sciscoe said, and ultimately decided to scrap the spring pageant in favor of a fundraiser.

The show isn’t just about drag.

Reaching out to the larger campus and community has become a goal for OUT, Sciscoe said.

Performances at MGIU Legacy varied. Different Drummer Belly Dancers followed four acts by the Bloomington Burlesque Brigade, whose nearly-topless dances drew shouts from the crowd.

Amidst technical difficulties that seemed to stem from the sound system, emcee Vicki St. James encouraged the crowd to take it in stride.

“We are going to make it funner,” St. James said. “Repeat after me — oh, hell no!”

With each glitch, the audience’s cheers of “oh, hell no” could be heard throughout Alumni Hall.

Former Miss Gay IUs from as early as 1995 performed as well. 

After finishing a performance of dancing across stage in a glittering, multi-colored body suit, reigning Miss Gay IU Ginger Ale talked with the audience.

“This has been a very tough year for OUT, and it’s been a really tough year for me to be reigning Miss Gay IU,” Ginger said. “I wish I could have done more.”

Ginger Ale said she didn’t have the opportunity to act as an advocate at GLBT panels and events as much as she had hoped.

She encouraged the audience to further promote these events.

“It starts with an individual person; it doesn’t start with a group,” Ginger Ale said.

Miss Indiana Gabrielle Reed, who was invited to greet and perform at the event, said the event — and the cause it supports — are close to her heart.

“Miss Gay IU  has always kind of been one of my favorite events,” Reed said.

Although not her official platform social issue, Reed said she has seen friends in the community struggle with coming out.

She said MGIU helps promote a welcoming environment.

“It’s a fun way to introduce people to something they’ve maybe never experienced before,” Reed said.