The Observer, November 3, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 9
Case students cross-dress for charity
Thwing Ballroom was the site of some serious gender-bending last Friday as Spectrum presented its third annual Drag Ball in front of a record crowd.
Drag Ball is Spectrum's annual charity event; half of the money raised at this year's event went to the Beyond Identities Community Center for LGBT youth.
The group that enters the most contestants into the event chooses where the other half of the money is donated. This year Phi Kappa Tau earned that distinction, providing 10 of the 46 contestants and donating the money to their national philanthropy, the Hole in the Wall Gang Association.
This year the event raised $1064.65 for the two charities.
"We raised more money this year than in the last two years combined," said Spectrum vice president Kenny Long.
The event started at 9 p.m. with the modeling competition, where entrants in the drag king and drag queen categories performed a short runway walk. This was followed by the lip-syncing competition, in which performers were judged not only on appearance but also ability to engage the audience.
While the judges determined their choices of finalists, six audience members were chosen to participate in a quick competition to see which of the three guy-girl pairs could switch clothing the fastest.
Voting by the audience took place throughout the evening in the form of donation; each participant had a box into which supporters could place money.
The judges chose one modeler and two lip-syncers each from the drag king and queen categories to be finalists, with the amount of money raised by each determining finishing place.
Of the participants not selected by the judges, three more finalists were chosen by the amount of money put in their boxes.
The winner for the drag queens was Quinn Tian, "Mulan," for the drag kings was Dana Plank, "Wolfgang M," and for the most money raised was Nichole Barnes, "Nick with the Magic Stick." The nine winners were able to choose their prizes from a collection including an Xbox 360, digital camera, 23-inch LCD television, and others.
Although the prizes are excellent incentives to enter, contestants like the relaxed and amusing nature of the event as well.
"Those are the longest two minutes of your life, standing on a runway and dancing like an idiot to a ridiculous song in equally ridiculous clothing," said Plank. "I'll do it again in a heartbeat."
Drag Ball has grown incredibly popular since its inception in 2005, both on-campus and off. This is evidenced in the amount of support given to the event; this year there were seven co-sponsors and over $3000 in prizes collected, $1600 of which came from 30 local businesses, according to Long.
Audience attendance has also greatly increased. Even with the dressing rooms and refreshments moved out of the ballroom and into the rest of the second floor of Thwing, the ballroom was still standing room only for most of the evening.
"The event has become so large that we are actually looking for a bigger venue for next year," said Spectrum public relations officer Tye Javorek.
