Students Celebrate Queer Pride at Annual Drag Event

Students filtered into the Luhr Building on April 12, many decked out in sparkles, elaborate outfits and makeup, for this year’s Drag Brunch. Student performers shared the stage with popular “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestants Acid Betty and Lana Ja’Rae, while Abbess of the Fourth Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Pattie O’Pounder emceed the event.

Each year, the LGBTQ+ Alliance works to invite drag queen headliners, aiming to make the event a positive experience. With the help of Director of Student Engagement Jen Stewart, club president Mickey Hosack and his team booked Betty and Ja’Rae as this year’s lead performers.

The alliance collaborated with Campus Activities to bring its Drag Brunch, typically held as a Drag Ball, to life. Due to scheduling conflicts, Hosack said Drag Ball transformed into Drag Brunch. According to Stewart, 65 people attended the brunch.

Headliners Betty and Ja’Rae made grand entrances into the event and performed several lip-sync numbers. Three local drag queens also performed, allowing the audience to get a taste of their St. Louis flair.

“It is great to see what the queer community looks like outside of campus,” Hosack said. “So, this is kind of a glimpse into the outside world of what it can be like to live out in broad, queer life.”

Featured performer Ja’Rae hosted a Q&A with the audience, diving into how drag changed her life after leaving college – despite being on the path to become a mechanical engineer.

“[Mechnical engineering] is not my journey. I never felt joy until I started doing drag,” Ja’Rae said. “Drag, for me, is putting on the wig and makeup and expressing queerness and being happy with who you are. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I would not have gotten into drag. It taught me about community and gender fluidity – just being who you are with pride.”

During the second half of the event, Betty selected audience members to participate in her small drag race competition to give spectators a chance to immerse themselves into drag culture.

Legal studies major Reyla Green attended the Drag Brunch and won the competition as an ally to the community.

“Other straight people aren’t as accepting of my creativeness and my personality sometimes. They judge me,” Green said. “I appreciate this community taking me in, letting me spend time with them and educating me.”

Betty’s other drag competition participant, Uma Gibson, a music education major, addressed why she feels people might avoid this type of gathering.

“Sometimes there are misconceptions about [LGBTQIA+] people,” Gibson said. “Because the community is not always accepted.”

Housing and Residential Life staff member Eli Woods also attended.

“…[W]e need visibility in times like this, and there is so much of a space for queer art right now that we need to be emphasizing and bringing [it] to the forefront,” Woods said.

Student attendee Anna Green, an arts major, said drag shows are life-affirming.

“Even if you are not a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, it is so important to see people being so authentically themselves,” Green said. “Everyone needs to experience a drag show. That is the authentic expression and playfulness with the ideas of gender and identity in the world.”

Green hopes to see Webster continue to push boundaries and embrace queerness.

“Give queer, creative students and organizations more of a platform and continue to amplify and raise awareness,” Green said. “Put us on the front covers. Put us in the flyers. The world might be a mess right now, but we are here, and we are proud, and we are what makes Webster, Webster.”

Club treasurer Ezri Perrin emphasized the importance of events like Drag Brunch.

“Especially in the current political climate, it’s very important for people on campus to see that there are people around to support them,” Perrin said. “There’s a network of people to reach out to, places they can go to be seen and there’s an entire world, an art form, out there just for them.”

The LGBTQ+ Alliance meets monthly and invites all students to attend. For meeting locations and more information, visit its Instagram page @lgbtqatwebsteru.