Cleavage. Stiletto-strutting studs and cleavage-clad kings and queens bared breasts bursting with dollar bills and ruled the stage with bejeweled fists and perfect nails during the Gender and Sexuality Alliance’s (GSA) annual Halloqueen drag show Thursday night, the proceeds of which were shared with the Coeur d’Alene Center for Gender and Sexuality Diversity.
Students, elderly, children, community members, B-rated inflatable bats and glow-in-the-dark skeleton decorations demonstrated that the stage dancers weren’t the only ones who knew how to stuff, with the attendance hitting over 150 according to club adviser and chemistry instructor Jon Downing.
The performances were vibrantly diverse.
Performer Asher Johnson announced shyly before going into her act that she was only going to sing because she didn’t realize these events were mostly lip-synched. But this self-proclaimed rookie to the stage turned heads with her countryman’s outfit coupled to a vocal performance of opera that received a standing ovation.
Later, looking like the survivor of an S&M venture through an oil spill, Felony Mayhem Cox burst onstage with a brutal faux-hawk, spiked bra, broad dominating shoulders and bulging eyes—frightening guests and somersaulting in heels, viciously emanating a mastery of drag theatrics.
Closing the night was glittering fireball Beyonce St. James, who twerked and twisted for the climax of the night, wherein she personally grabbed a male audience member who had offered her a dollar bill, sat him on the stage, gave him a lap dance, laid him down and bounced atop his body.
The audio had technical difficulties mid-performance, which St. James handled with grace, transitioning the time to speak a little about her experience as an empress in the Imperial Sovereign Court of Spokane.
The student reception was ecstatic.
“It got pretty crazy,” Megan Abey, 20, General Studies, Coeur d’Alene said. “But in a good way. In the best ways.”
The event wasn’t all about fun and games, though. Midway through the show GSA advisers and representatives from the Canadian Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity spoke about some of the struggles facing the LGBT community, such as higher sexual violence, homelessness, personal experiences with coming out and suicide rates.
In light of the recent Supreme Court rulings and the success of the night, the general feeling seemed optimistic about the future of LGBT relations.
“Everybody always talks about RuPaul or the stereotypes of drag queens, and it’s nice to actually show what that’s about,” said event coordinator Jess Brereton, 28, English, Manitou Springs. “It’s a whole other kit and caboodle.”
“It’s all theater to me,” Felony Mayhem Cox, 24, Hotel Restaurant Management at Spokane Community College, Post Falls said. “I enjoy it because Felony is so much different than who I am normally, so much more boisterous. She’s loud, obnoxious, she’s fun, she’s a lot ballsier, and I enjoy the makeup aspect of it, the theater and the embodying an entirely different character that I’ve got to create myself.”
An elementary-aged girl in attendance of the show was dancing around by people’s seats. Her name is Tori Wilkinson, and she does drag in her spare time. Her stage name is Surreal Mystery Diamond.
“I’ve been doin’ a lot of drag shows, but sometimes I don’t do drag shows. I only do a couple because my mom doesn’t like sometimes doing so much,” Wilkinson said. She smiled and raised her arms proudly. “I always make the whole place shut down!”
Make no mistake: this is an event of clothes flinging, sleazy frizzled hair, audience members grinded upon and blood spatter makeup. However, this is also an event of family, laughter, fake sword battles, Freddie Mercury impersonations and Ghostbuster-costumed, Gangnam style-dancing students. No doubt, fun is to be had at Halloqueen.
