The Time I Wore Drag During the Day in Tuscaloosa

8:16 AM

Posted by The Queer

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This past Saturday was quite the festive occasion in downtown Tuscaloosa – the Druid City Arts Festival, the Tour de Tuscaloosa and even a drag race. Yes, I mean the kind with men in high heels. As part of the bicycle racing, a drag race was held to benefit Fuller Goldsmith/Children's Hospital. That ole ball and chain of mine heard about this event and was dying to slip on his heels in the middle of Temerson Square, but I was having none of it . . .  at first. The more I realized how committed he was to this event, I felt I just could not be outdone or outgayed. Within the hour, I was slinging on my Haus of Kira pumps and dressing for the occasion. Well, there was a category for best dressed and I felt that I didn't stand a chance of winning the actual race seeing how as I lose my breath walking to the vending machine. So bring on the hats and halter-top corsets.

Now you've seen me at Icon in my Daisy-wear and some have seen me run amok in the streets of New Orleans in my Daisy-wear and I even slipped into Coppertop on Halloween night in my Daisy-wear. But never have I ever been in full Daisy-wear (sans face) in the middle of the day in the middle of Temerson Square in the midst of a sporting event. The spectacle ensues for both myself and BT since he has also donned one of my freakum dresses from the bottom of the barrel. Paparazzi attack and everyone is just head-over-heels for us! We complete the race, surprising ourselves at our agility in such footwear. You would have thought Rick Santorum had rallied his troops to chase us down and bring us to moral justice. Daisy took home "Best Dressed" (of course) and the race raised over $1600 for Children's Hospital. Well fabulous!

But it was an interesting experience. This damn Comm Studies minor of mine forces me to never enjoy any situation and instead evaluate it. As I said, I don't typically wear my drag outside of certain comfort zones, or safety zones if you want to be real. That's not exactly appropriate in Tuscaloosa as I was constantly reminded by the people who kept saying, "In Tuscaloosa?!?!?" I never would have imagined!" Yes, townspeople, "the gays" keep finding ways to seep back into your communities and in the middle is always a small band of drag queens bitching about everything. The photos were all in fun, but I felt like a fucking penguin escaped from the zoo. "Look mom! Take a picture of it before it scampers away!" One woman really nailed it on the head for me. As she was taking my picture, she laughed and said, "Oho! You look too comfortable in those shoes," and then she wiped away any semblance of a smile and said, "You're scaring me."


Now think for a moment what would have happened if there had been no drag race for Children's Hospital and it was just a regular Saturday and I showed up the exact same way. Would I have been greeted in the same manner or possibly harassed and even beaten. I can honestly say "Yes" to both. It was the idea that the community-at-large made it okay for something like that to happen in their presence with a specific reason at hand; otherwise, they would have been offended. Gender benders are used by the straight community as a quick taste of the bizarre that they can sample (usually for charity in some way) and then turn away lest they become too associated with such strangeness. I am glad that I was able to participate in something to help a terrific cause, but is it so wrong to wish that I could be whoever I am at any time rather than just when given the community's permission? Will we ever have a society that appreciates differences and unique expression rather than stress conformity?


Over and Out,
CampusQueer

Not All Flags Are Rainbow

8:44 AM

Posted by The Queer

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You may have never noticed this sign as you approach the Strip coming from downtown Tuscaloosa. I notice it everyday. The sign can be seen on more than 1600 miles of road in the state of Alabama. An organization simply has to fill out the paperwork and the state will provide bags to the organization to keep the area of road they "adopt" regularly tidy, saving Alabama taxpayers millions of dollars each year in debris maintenance (http://www.alpals.org/adoptamile.asp). So who adopted the Strip? Who would volunteer to clean up this area cluttered by The University of Alabama students and nightly bar crawlers? 

Spectrum. 

Spectrum is the LGBT/Ally student group at UA. So here we are in an area where I can easily recall times of being harassed for my sexuality and several others of you can as well I'm sure, but all the while the gayest student group on campus had their flag in that ground. I asked Lauren J, current president of Spectrum, about their current involvement with the cleanup of the Strip as per their adoption, but she regrets they don't do it as often as they would like anymore. Instead, they are focusing on the other initiatives of their service component, such as their annual drag variety show coming up in April to benefit WAAO and Spectrum Cares, an ongoing program for tornado relief.

It's interesting though just to observe that flag in the ground – a flag of metal and generic graphics, not some silky, rainbow thing. No other group had claimed that area. Not the UA SGA, any of the fraternities or sororities, or any of the other people that populate that area in the overwhelming majority. Sure, they have other things they do, but so does Spectrum. Spectrum saw an opportunity to do something good for our community and leaped on it, regardless of the heteronormative vibe that spawns from every crevice of that area. I think the lesson you can take from this is that Change takes many forms. Change happens when a group of friends at the Stonewall Inn get fed-up with constant haranguing by the local police and lead a revolution. Change happens in the legislative halls voting for marriage equality in Washington and Maryland. Change happens in the big campaigns such as "It Gets Better" or The Trevor Project. But it also happens in small ways. It happens when a group of LGBT students come together to make positive contributions in their community – contributions that are easily overlooked and even forgotten. Change doesn't always beat on your door, demanding entry. Sometimes Change has been sitting with you having coffee for much longer than you knew and suddenly you realize that Change has come.

My last post was about how sometimes we need space to call our own, but there are also times when we need to be part of the community space, intermingled in everything that links us all together as people just living our lives. There's got to be a balance. Put your flag in the ground somewhere a little more unexpected. Maybe Change really happens when we start forgetting all the things that make us different and start finding all the ways we are so similar.

So next time you are passing Audubon Place on University Boulevard, look at this sign and let it be a reminder that we are part of this community as a whole and we have a place in it. 


Over and Out,
CampusQueer


Logo Prefers the Glass Closet

11:00 AM

Posted by The Queer

0 comments




Do you often watch the Logo channel? Personally, I'm tuned in constantly for RuPaul's Drag Race (as you should as well,) 1 Girl 5 Gays and the occasional other mess that they manage to let seep on the network for the embarrassment of us all. Well you may be surprised to hear that Logo will soon be gutted to become the "new Bravo" according to unicornbooty.com. That's right. Logo will no longer be an LGBT channel as much as just another LGBT-friendly channel.

Queerty.com reported this quote from Lisa Sherman, general manager of the Logo network:

“From our research, gay people are living far more integrated lives that before,” says Sherman (left), referencing a study Logo conducted with Starcom Mediavest Group that indicated 53% of LGBTs didn’t see showcasing their orientation as a priority and only 30% “preferred living and socializing in exclusively gay and lesbian communities.”
“Being gay is an important part of their lives but it’s not what they lead with,” she explains. “So if we’re going to keep to that idea of displaying their lives, we need to reflect that new reality.”
Well that's all fine and dandy. You know, I love to go to every other bar in town where I can hang out with all kinds of people and know my gay friends and I are also welcome, but at some point I just want to go to the damn gay bar where it's all gay, all the time. (Thanks Icon!) I can still be myself at the other bars, but I can't very well go in my god-awful drag or kiss my boyfriend. We live in a heteronormative society that may have outlets for us to feel accepted, as long as we still constrain ourselves to the conservative side of the perceived gay culture.

In the end, it's all about the dolla-dolla bill. Logo let CRAP air. RuPaul is the only thing that's been saving them with her million variations on the word "drag" and drag reality (What an oxymoron?) A  few wigs and the occasional eleganza can only do so much. They made went for poorly-produced, stereotypical nonsense that tried to mimic Bravo's moneymakers and failed. I don't understand why it's so hard to produce quality LGBT programming?

This is a disappointing move for Logo. It used to be something that I felt was just for me. Now I'm going to be lumped into a more generic demographic that wants to see shows featuring just one of the Toddler and Tiara things (It's not even honey boo-boo child!) and apparently some mob-daughter finding her way in LA. I didn't need another Bravo, because I already have Bravo. I needed my space in the wide expanse of television's strangle-hold on American life where I felt like the majority. Thanks Logo for making me a minority again.

Over and Out,
CampusQueer

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