By Dylan Lightfoot
PINK 2005 packed the Red Barn to capacity last Friday night as scores of students shelled out their $6 admission to watch mild-mannered gentlemen transform themselves into reasonable facsimiles of pop divas, tragic waifs, society matrons and truck stop waitresses.
Sponsored by the university’s Student Activities Board and the Student Government Association, the annual drag show has sold out every year, and Friday’s 10th anniversary performance was no exception.
PINK is a production of commonGround, the University of Louisville’s resident gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student organization. “PINK was started to raise money for the only LGBT scholarship on campus … the Ken Terrill Memorial Scholarship,” said U of L senior and commonGround president James Taylor.
According to Taylor, PINK clears about $1,000 each year, half of which is donated to the “K.T.” scholarship fund.
Terrill, an Associate Professor of Theater Arts at U of L and adviser for the Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Alliance (GLOBAL), died in 1994.
Apart from its spectacular appeal, PINK’s success can largely be attributed to the size and vigor of U of L’s LGBT community.
“Over the past few years, the LGBT presence [at U of L] has really grown,” Taylor said, adding that U of L’s Pride Week last year was the largest on any college campus in the state. In addition to nearly 300 members of commonGround, other Recognized Student Organizations fill out the LGBT ranks at U of L, such as the Lambda Law Caucus and Just Us. Also, the LGBT Services Center was established this school year.
But PINK 2005 also had some celebrity drawing power. Local performer and drag queen luminary Hurricane Summers was hired by commonGround to emcee the show.
“She has a lot of respect from the LGBT community,” Taylor said. “She really draws people in.”
Summers effectively stole the show, lip-syncing to tunes like “I Hate Your Lousy Rotten Stinking Guts (But I’m Not Bitter)” and “Redneck Woman,” for which she sported a pink waitress uniform with a large penis that popped up whenever she lifted her apron. She also did some well-received stand-up, heckled a DPS officer and reassured the sizeable non-LGBT crowd: “All straight people in the room … relax. We’re gay, we’re not desperate.”
Summers also introduced the dozen or so lip-sync-and-dance acts, which were performed by U of L students under alias drag names, such as Katt, Phoenix St. James, Shaunika and Kya King. To the credit of the queens, it was difficult to tell which of the many drag personas were played by which of the four or five male performers; the costume changes, combined with the song selections, made for convincing character switches.
The show also featured a spoof of the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it That Way” that posed the compelling question, “Which Backstreet Boy’s Gay?”
A gay old time, it seemed, was had by all, and the more enthusiastic audience members lined up to stuff dollar bills in garters, brassieres and stockings. After all, Summers reminded the crowd, the performers were just poor college students, “and some of these girls spent up to … $15 getting ready for this.”
The audience also gave freely when James Taylor took up a collection for the Terrill scholarship and the commonGround coffers.
“It’s nice for people to come out and support us tonight, but we want them to support us all year,” said Danielle Bristow, adviser for commonGround.
While good turnout at events like “PINK” would seem to indicate broad support for the LGBT movement, there are many avid detractors and critics on campus. However, no picketers or hecklers were seen outside the Red Barn Friday night. Asked if he could recall any protests at PINK or other LGBT functions, Taylor responded, “Not to my knowledge.”
But PINK was undeniably a hit with the audience. “It was hot. … The best thing I’ve ever seen,” said Kasey Weber, a senior at Eastern High School.
Sophomore Erin Brennan said of the performers: “Some of those guys make damn sexy women!”
