Excuse Me.

Excuse me that I thought in the year 2012, that a free drag show for charity purposes would not arise a mountain of controversy throughout a public school. As reported in an earlier issue of The Sentinel, the Kennesaw Pride Alliance held a free drag show, featuring various students as performers, to raise money for the Atlanta chapter of the PALS organization. The event seemed to raise eyebrows and concerns, as some felt that the event wasn’t worthy of reporting in the school newspaper’s Arts and Living section, and that the event should not have even taken place on school grounds in the first place.

Excuse me?

Let us take a minute to define what “arts and living” entails. Arts, which include both performing and visual arts, include, but are not limited to, music, movies, television, paintings, sculptures and performance arts, which drag is. Drag queens, despite what popular opinion may tell us, don’t generally lead their lives as the characters they portray on stage, so the act of performing (keyword) in drag is putting themselves into the character for them, so that they may portray the role that they wish for the entertainment of the audience. It’s not like Jack Nicholson is a cannibalistic wine enthusiast in his real life. That reference may be lost on many. From an acting standpoint, many actors alter their style of look and physical look to portray a role every single day. Goodness, Robert Downey, Jr. put himself in blackface for Tropic Thunder without any controversy, and that’s far more offensive than Tyler Perry dressing as Madea, but now I’m getting off track.

As said before, many complaints were filed with the editors of The Sentinel, mostly stating that event like that should not have taken place, as a drag show for the sake of charity cheapens the value of the charity, much less it being reported and photographed for public consumption. Some even had problems with a photograph of the “goodie bag” table, in which guests could receive various pamphlets of information regarding safe sex practices, and condoms. You read that right, condoms. I don’t know what it is about a picture of condoms and the visual reminder to the promotion of safer sexual practices in a college setting that would get everyone in a tizzy, but I’m also loading my bandwagon in preparation for heading down the Oregon Trail in concurrence with writing this article.
More importantly, let us address this cheapening of charity comment, because we all know what the bottom line is there. To say something like a drag show cheapens the value of charity is akin to saying that the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon that has taken place annually since the beginning of time is insulting to the MDA. Everyone knows that entertainment, even in its cheapest forms, brings in some level of money, and using that money for a greater good is a bit rarer than we think. So let’s just call it what it is, and treat this like adults would. Those people that made those comments basically hate homosexuals.

There’s no romanticizing it or skirting around the issue. If one were so concerned enough to do their research, they would know that PALS hosts many drag queen centered events to raise money for their organization on an almost weekly basis. PALS also has a great network of support and volunteerism from the gay community, so the idea of a drag show is the exact opposite of demoralizing to the organization, if anything, it’s utilizing its resources, and catering to their largest audience.

Remember. Attendance to the drag show wasn’t compulsory, and it was even held at night, when less students surround the campus for fear of the unknown public reaction. No harm was done, and a great amount was raised for the sake of a charity. Learn to see the good in what people do, and not pick it apart for your own selfish reasons.