McCain Auditorium was in an uproar Friday night for the 14th annual Kansas State Drag Show. The show was sponsored by the Union Program Council, the LGBT Resource Center, the Student Organization for Cultural Studies and the Sexuality and Gender Alliance.
Those in attendance watched drag queens Monica Moree, Victoria Fox, Kim Chi, Penny Tration, Sarah Jessica Darker and TyWoo perform in a variety of live song and dance numbers and lip syncs.
Monica Moree is played by Dusty Garner-Carpenter, the director of the show and a K-State alum.
Garner-Carpenter said he was amazed by how much K-State has started accepting the LGBTQ community and all that it has to offer.
“K-State is in this unique situation where we have kids from rural back corners of the state and of the country, and they come here for a lot of programs and go back to those hometowns,” Garner-Carpenter said. “Having even just a momentary, three-hour exposure to something like this can impact those little towns and change the way they treat people.”
Adam Carr, junior in business, said he can attest to the positive impact of this annual event.
“This show means so much to me because it was one of the major moments in college that showed me I could be myself and truly express my sexuality at K-State,” Carr said.
The Drag Show raised $4,000 this year, which Garner-Carpenter said will go toward LGBTQ scholarships at K-State. The donations will also make it possible for some LGBTQ students to attend group counseling sessions free of charge.
Carr said the drag show was able to raise this amount because of “tipping” from audience members as well as external donors.
Garner-Carpenter said he is looking forward to the future of the drag show.
“My sole goal is to make it to our 20th show,” Garner-Carpenter said. “We have six more to go.”
