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