culture@dailylobo.com
The ancient Mayans predicted the world would end in 2012, but they never could have predicted it would be so fabulous. If the end is here, at least we will go out with a bang, thanks to the Queerpocalypse 2012 Drag Show hosted by UNM’s Queer Straight Alliance.
People can usually only see drag shows in 21 venues, but QSA co-chair Austin Evans said the show will be open to all ages, bringing the art of drag to a campus audience.
“There won’t be any panty-dropping, but it’s still very fabulous and flamboyant and over the top,” he said.
The drag show takes place tonight in the SUB ballrooms. Co-chair Alyssa Hedrich said the show will feature performances by drag queens and drag kings, including the 2012 New Mexico Pride pageant title winners Shaila Cavalli and Rocco Steele. She said spectators can expect feather boas, big hair, makeup, booty-shaking and lots of music. She also revealed that one of the kings will do a number to a Queen song.
“They’re very eager to come to UNM because it’s not always a venue or community they have access to as performers,” she said.
The show is free, but Hedrich said donations are encouraged.
Attendees can purchase raffle tickets at the event and win a variety of prizes, including a gift card to Self Serve Sexuality Resource Center, an adult store in Nob Hill. Evans said the raffle replaces last year’s date auction, in which a date with a hottie onstage went to the highest bidder in the audience. Evans said the auction was always a flop.
“It was a complete failure,” he said. “It ended up being a joke.”
Evans said the show is now an established annual event on campus, which means QSA has received financial support from several departments.
Evans said organizing the show is a worthwhile challenge.
“It takes a lot of caffeine and emails,” he said. “Dealing with the queens and getting them to sign contracts and getting their music is a process.”
Hedrich said she hopes the show will encourage more people to get involved with the LGBTQ community on campus and bring in support for QSA. She said the group started with 80 members at the beginning of the semester, but that meeting attendance has dropped significantly to the low 20s.
“To be able to come together as a community and have some sort of celebration of ourselves and our identities that is so wonderfully, beautifully, uniquely gay is great,” she said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Queerpocalypse:
The End is Queer
Fourth Annual Drag Show
Tonight
7-11 p.m.
SUB ballrooms
Free
Raffle tickets: $1
VIP raffle tickets: $5
VIP seating and goody bag: $10
