On Friday, October 21, 2016, the Office of LGBTQ Services and MOB co-hosted the first Dickinson College drag show. The show featured Mrs. Kasha Davis as the headliner and ten other drag queens and kings from the area, including Jade DeVere, Sir Beauty, Diamond Taylor and Belladonna. The show also featured Miss Zilla as the emcee. A bake sale took place before and after the show to raise money for the OneOrlando Fund to benefit the survivors and victims of the tragic Pulse Nightclub shooting this summer.

There’s always a certain amount of anxiety that goes into planning an event, especially when it’s never been done before. You spend a lot of time flying blind, guessing at what people will enjoy. With the drag show, however, the excitement from the student body became clear a few days after the event’s Facebook page was created. By the day of the event, seventy-seven people had said they were going, and another ninety-seven said they were interested. Over five hundred people attended the show, filling most of ATS. I think it’s fair to say that we could not have hoped for a better crowd. Audience members were respectful, followed the drag show etiquette that the Office of LGBTQ Services had provided and made the performers feel welcomed.

Personally, I was thrilled with the event. This was the first big event I had organized on my own and to see it go off without a hitch and have such a positive reception was incredible. There was a moment before the show started when I was looking around ATS as the seats filled up and enormity of the event’s success hit me. There were so many people who, for one reason or another, had decided to spend part of their Friday night watching a central part of LGBTQ culture.

Part of what makes Dickinson so wonderful are the events like this one; events that are meant to broaden the horizons and outlooks of the students in a non-academic way. When we think about culture, we tend to focus on culture in relation to countries, race and ethnicity. We forget that culture also exists to unite people who may come from different backgrounds. Drag shows and drag performers are an integral part of LGBTQ history and culture. Their performances exist as a celebration of the queer narrative; the figure of the drag performer can be found at all points in the community’s history — good, tragic and everything in between. By bringing this show to Dickinson, we’re allowing students to learn about this culture in an environment where they feel comfortable. It allows students to see a side of the LGBTQ community that they might not seek out on their own. This introduction may lead to a further interest in the community and its history; at the very least, it breeds conversation and awareness within the student body.

Written by Fiona Keane ’19