Drag Show 2007 aims to provide more education
By Alexa Dijulio
May GASPED and GALA have your attention, ladies and gentlemen -- or ladies dressed as gentlemen -- or gentlemen dressed as ladies? The 6th annual Santa Clara Drag Show will be breaking down gender stereotypes left and right, say participants and organizers, tomorrow, May 4, at 8 p.m. in the California Mission Room.
Downstairs Benson Center will be transformed into an eccentric staging area full of students dressed in drag. Along with the usual lip-syncs and dances, there will be some new elements that organizers hope might make you think.
Representatives from Gay & Straight People for the Education of Diversity and Gay and Lesbian Alliance, as well as from Santa Clara Community Action Program, say they have worked hard to ensure that this year's show incorporates more elements of education about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual/two-spirited and queer/questioning communities. This year, skits and interviews about the history of transgender prejudice that will be incorporated into the show.
Though James Servino, program coordinator of GASPED, said Santa Clara has a history of support for the LGBTQ community, the support is not absolute. "Santa Clara students are aloof to this community unless they actually know and associate with a gay or lesbian person," he said.
Servino said the LGBTQ community at Santa Clara seems to have more outward support from women. Servino said the Drag Show needs more male straight allies to help the show continue with success in the future.
Last spring after the Drag Show, three hate e-mails were sent to SCCAP, the overseer of GASPED. The e-mails were never officially reported to the university because the responses were not the first of their kind since the Drag Show began, were not physically threatening, and were not aimed at a specific person. However, the e-mails sparked a panel discussion sponsored by SCAAP.
Servino hopes that the showing at this year's panel, which will be held on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Williman Room in Benson, will be larger thanks to the educational skits that will intertwined with the performances.
Mairead Burke, a senior in the communication and women and gender studies departments who has helped plan the show, sees the shock-value of the performances as a great way to attract people to the Drag Show, which ultimately showcases a community that is often overlooked.
The exhilaration that comes from viewing a show like this often is a product of Burke's mentioned shock-value, especially at a Jesuit university. Emory Lynch, senior out-going director of SCCAP and member of GASPED, wants to make sure that this shock acts as a means for breaking stereotypes down instead of reinforcing them.
Max Voltage, who is responsible for starting the Drag Show at Santa Clara, said to performers, "Take risks, push boundaries, challenge your audience. But also, find that line to walk, between risky art and oppressive crap," in an essay written for The Third National Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Ally Conference for Jesuit Colleges.
The conference, which was hosted at Santa Clara last summer, is held for Jesuit universities to facilitate discussion and action within the LGBTQ communities. According to Voltage, if performers, or "stars," as they are referred to in planning meetings, are successful, they will empower both men and women without demeaning either gender with sexist or oppressive stereotypes.
"Homophobia is really tied to sexism," said Servino.
Prizes will be awarded to those who show up in drag, but no pressure -- attendance by those who do not wish to work it from the other side is equally encouraged.
Peter Keating, a junior GASPED member who is involved in the planning of the show, said, "You will get as much out of this as you wish to get." Regardless, performers will be breaking it down -- in more ways than one -- to Justin Timberlake, Shakira and many, many more.
Contact Alexa Dijulio at adijulio@scu.edu