A “Love Letter to Drag”: Reemergence of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance Brings the 25th Anniversary of the University’s Drag Show
By: Frannie Edwards-Hughes
On Feb. 17, the University of Puget Sound celebrated its 25th anniversary of the school’s drag show for students, faculty, and members of the community. This “Love Letter to Drag” was put on by the University’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) and was hosted by Seattle-based drag queen Aleksa Manila. The Valentine’s Day theme was all about creating a space of love, appreciation, and free expression for members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Among the performers were artists Manila, who captivated the entire audience with her witty and emotional performance, Ceasar Hart, who spread positivity through upbeat and moving songs, and Chi-Chi, who focused on the Vogue Fem performance style and captured the audience through the use of hands, catwalk, duckwalk, spins/dips, and floor. The show also featured two student drag artists, Camella Smoke and Rotty Cezanne, who presented animated stories through their performances and truly made the night.
As a build-up to the drag show, the GSA club also hosted a seminar given by well-known and beloved drag queen Poison Waters. This talk provided students the opportunity to hear about Water’s experience growing up as a person of color involved in the LGBTQIA+ community during the HIV and AIDS epidemic, finding happiness, and feeling secure in her sexuality and her career. There was a question and answer period in which students asked about how to get involved in this community and how to find their place in drag. Both events were part of GSA’s rebuilding, as this is the first year the club has resurfaced following the pandemic.
The University of Puget Sound has characterized itself as a very accepting place for students in the LGBTQIA+ community, but when this year’s freshmen first came onto campus, they found that there was not a single alliance club available to join. August Grey, a current first-year, said they “were disappointed” with the lack of a dedicated community as it “made it really hard to get adjusted.” Grey took it into their own hands to restart the GSA. With the help of peers Archie Kerr and Zero Lowrey, Grey was able to rebuild the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, restarting a group that had been lost.
The GSA has been operating as a fun way for students to get together and talk, share music, and plan events such as the drag show, and it also has been a place for students to come for support when they are experiencing discrimination and bullying due to their sexuality or gender identity. This year there have been multiple acts of hatred and discrimination towards members of the LGBTQIA+ community at the University by other students. The freshman received an email from the school regarding instances of “hate speech and use of slurs and malicious words to attack and harm marginalized communities within our halls and online.”
Despite some effort the school has made to address and stop this discrimination from occurring, GSA leaders have reported there has not really been any sort of resolution. At a school that is characterized and known for having a very open and queer-accepting student body, these acts were devastating and extremely harmful to the students targeted. This University, as Grey points out, “is very comfortable with comfortable activism.” They continued, ”like reposting something on your story, but not actually doing anything.” When it comes to actually standing up against misinformation or the spread of homophobic and transphobic rumors, not much action has been taken. The University sent an email to the freshman class and mentioned the circumstances at floor meetings, but the rest of the school remains unaware of much of the hate occurring towards queer students. The discrimination that the LGBTQIA+ community here at the University has experienced can also be seen throughout the entirety of the United States, shown by reports from UCLA’s Williams Institute.
At the Drag show, host and performer Manila made sure to emphasize that although the drag show was put on to entertain and spread joy to the student body, it was also important to understand the current discrimination that the industry is facing across the United States. Many conservative states are working to place restrictions on drag shows and LGBTQIA+ expression as a way to “protect” children. These laws are not working to help the youth, but instead are being used as a way for Republican officials to control and diminish the freedoms and creativity of LGBTQIA+ people across the country. The anti-drag and anti-trans legislation were acknowledged at the start of the show, as well as how important drag is for the LGBTQIA+ community.
When planning the show, Grey took into account the current political situation. They stated that they wanted the show to be “extremely sex positive, very much not censoring or not making it clean and nice and palatable for people to not be uncomfortable with.” Grey and the rest of the GSA wanted the show to present the message that drag queens are safe to be around, and also that queer people are allowed to express themselves sexually and shouldn’t have to hide or be ashamed of that aspect of their lives. As Grey puts it, “you don’t have to have the absence of sex to be able to be present in the community.” Queer people face much backlash and negativity around sex and relationships, and the drag show, as well as other initiatives that the GSA is hosting, are all about making students who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community comfortable on campus.
The drag show was a huge success and was enjoyed by the students, faculty, and community members who attended. The GSA is currently working on other events that embrace LGBTQIA+ students and their interests. When the club disappeared during Covid, so did a sense of belonging and acceptance for many queer students at the University. Its reemergence supports and will continue to support LGBTQIA+ members and anyone else interested in a place to speak comfortably, find connections, and create change in the school and greater community.