Drag queens take centerstage

More than 250 people came to watch the drag queens in sparkly corsets, flashy dresses, fishnets and high heels strut, dance and strip down the aisles of the Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union. The Beta chapter of Sigma Phi Beta, a queer and allied fraternity, put on their first drag show benefit Tuesday night.

The Drag for a Cause event featured five drag queens and two drag kings from two IU campuses, as well as Indianapolis. They battled for a crown and tiara, along with the title of Queen and King of Campus.

The drag queens and drag kings lip synced to numerous hits, such as Christina Aguilera’s “Come On Over Baby,” and Cher’s “Believe.”

The hosts of the evening Ophelia Knightly, sophomore Devin Roberts, and Matilda Rose, sophomore Payne Banister, also brothers of Sigma Phi Beta, started off the show with laughter and jokes. The poked fun at Chick-Fil-A and its
anti-gay stance as Rose came on stage eating its signature waffle fries.

“Don’t you know they hate us?” Knightly asked, to which Rose said he didn’t care.

“It’s delicious,” Rose said.

Then the performances began. The audience whooped, hollered and threw out single dollar bills at the queens and kings as they lip synced to a song of their choosing. 

During the past month, contestants had put in more than 15 hours of practice before the event.

“Everyone’s been working hard,” Will Mruzek, manager of Sigma Phi Beta said.
Contestants were judged based on their performance, appearance and audience reaction.

At the end of the night, Zorro, student Zuryvette Borrero, who lip synced to Corinne Bailey’s “Girl, Put Your Records On,” was named king and Nikita Diamond, an IU freshman, who lip synced the song “Sasha” won queen.

“Drag makes me feel alive,” said Diamond, who just recently started entering drag queen pageants. “It’s a release for me.”

The event was inspired by the previous Miss Gay IU pageants, which had been a tradition in Bloomington for 20 years and annually drew 1,000 attendees until the productions stopped due to debt in 2010.

Proceeds from the event will go to the Indiana Youth Group, a safe house for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth in Indianapolis.

“This is all for a good cause, really,” Roberts said. “The safe house allows others to express themselves and allows them to have leadership opportunities.”