Enterprise story

Moscow Drag Shows Offer Local GLBTA Community a Place to Connect

High heels, a leopard print dress, and outrageous makeup may seem like inappropriate attire for a typical Saturday night in Moscow, Id., but for performers at the Moscow drag shows, it’s all in the job description.

Once a month, the Moscow drag shows offer the university towns of Pullman and Moscow a safe venue for members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community and their allies to come together and celebrate.

Last weekend’s show featured a debut performance by Lauren Edholm, a junior women’s studies major at WSU. Dressed in thigh-high fishnets and a short, corset-style dress that ripped off to reveal lacy undergarments, Edholm commanded the stage and the attention of 400-person crowd to a sexy lip-synced rendition of “All That Jazz”.

Edholm is just one of many WSU students who regularly attend or perform in the drag shows as a way to connect with the GLTBA community.

“When you perform, you kind of become a face for the community in the area,” said Tyler Perkins, a junior zoology student at WSU. “You do it because you are not afraid of how people react to the fact that you’re gay.”

The Moscow drag shows are run by Kathy Sprague and her partner Tabitha, local business owners in Moscow and self-proclaimed advocates for the GLBTA (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and ally) community.

The shows, which began about 15 years ago, were created as a way to commemorate a friend of Sprague’s who died of AIDs. Before each performance, Sprague, dressed as “Bill” in men’s work clothes and a sizeable moustache, addresses the audience. She said the shows are a perfect forum for reaching out to the GLBTA community about important issues such as HIV testing and local support events.

Sprague said the reason the shows are so successful is because of the consistency.

“A lot of organizations have come and gone, but for 15 years, the drag shows have happened once a month,” Sprague said. “We need that kind of event to keep our community strong.”

This sense of unity is appreciated by attendees like Ben Wyant, a freshman pre-vet major at WSU.

“I think that safe events like this allow for people of the gay community to come together and feel wanted and a part of something,” said Wyant.

The shows typically feature two sets of drag performances, which include Drag Queens (men performing as women) and Drag Kings (women performing as men), and as well as Bio Drag performances, in which the performer maintains his or her gender but creates a different, often exaggerated drag identity with which to perform.

Performers vary by week but “there are definitely the usual suspects” said Sprague. In order to perform, participants must attend a “Drag 101” course to learn the guidelines of drag.

“It’s more drag etiquette than anything else,” said Sprague. “We want the performers to really express themselves so we don’t have a lot of rules.”

The Moscow community in general is very accepting of the GBLTA community, Sprague said. The shows have been consistently well-attended since their start.

“The first show had about 100 people at it,” Sprague said, “And now we easily get 300 to 500 at every one.”

Their biggest turnout was at an event in 2000 at the local dance club venue The Beach. The show was featured in a local paper and drew in a crowd of over 1600.

The next show is scheduled for Jan. 30 at the Moose Lodge in Moscow, Id. Doors open at 9 p.m. Sprague expects the event to be “a big one” because it will also be her birthday celebration.




Sources:

Katherine Sprague – in person
kathys@moscow.com
(208) 892-9100

Tyler Perkins - by e-mail
tperky@wsu.edu

Ben Wyant - by e-mail
benwyant09@hotmail.com

Lauren Edholm - interview not conducted, was unable to contact this source
ledholm@wsu.edu