Rainbow Alliance Drag Show | Photo by Christian Peters | The Wright State Guardian
Rainbow Alliance held their 18th annual drag show this past weekend where students got together to create a positive and safe environment.
The history of WSU’s performance
Drag performances have become more and more mainstream since their inception in the 1920s. Nearly 800,000 viewers tune into Ru Paul’s Drag Race, a tv show based around the concept of drag. These performances have been a staple of life at WSU since the first show 18 years ago.
The yearly event helps foster a strong sense of community in the Dayton area.
“It’s really good because people in the community have reached out to thank us for holding the show,” Jules Mae, vice president of Rainbow Alliance and the coordinator for the event, said.
Aside from being an entertaining night, proceeds from the event go to the LGBTQA scholarship fund for WSU students. Last year the event was held online and organizers were eager to get the show in person again, albeit with a live stream so people who are still wary of in-person events can watch from the safety of their homes.
The event had some trouble last year with ‘trolls’ or unknown visitors to the live stream that spammed the chat with slurs and other negative comments.
“Support local drag events, don’t make quick judgments,” Mae said in response.
What drag means to its performers
The annual drag show is not only a night for veterans of drag but newcomers as well.
“For those thinking about doing drag, I would recommend going to shows and seeing performances. Meet the performers during break as well,” Oliver Dixon, veteran drag king, said.
Aside from using drag as a form of self-expression, the show also helped Dixon to discover and mold their own gender identity.
“I have become more comfortable in my skin with presenting more masculine outside of drag, and I greatly attribute that to my experience as being Oliver over the past few years,” Dixon said.
What drag means to WSU students
The drag show is not just a great night for performers, it is an entertaining night for the audience as well. According to Mae, one of their favorite things about the event is the large, supportive audience.
Aaron Osborne, who has attended the show several times in the past, noted drag’s complicated history and controversies surrounding it.
“Drag as a whole can be seen as something that’s problematic when it comes to the appropriation of African American Vernacular English, which can apply to white gay men especially. But that also applies to groups outside of drag,” Osborne said.
Despite their recognition of these controversies, Osborne is a huge fan of drag as a whole, not just at WSU.
“I think drag is something that enables queer folk to come together and feel safe in their nonconformity to the heteronormative society that we live in,” Osborne said.
