Cross-dressed to the nines

Queer Radicals, the sponsoring organization, is a student group created to promote respect on campus for what it says is a marginalized gay community.

Despite the fire alarm sounding early on, the club was mostly filled with participants and curious observers by midnight. A stir arose upon the arrival of the event’s emcees, two winning drag queens emeriti who asked to be identified by their stage names for the evening. “Roxy,” last year’s winner, wore red heels and a tiara on his vibrant red locks. His co-host, “Tina,” won in 2006 and was dressed in black, with a flapper-style headband and tall boots. Both seniors, who identified themselves as LGBT peer educators, also sported matching fishnets and color-coordinated bustiers.

Attendees contributed a few dollars at the entrance, and all the proceeds went to Anchor House, a Trenton shelter for the homeless and abused populations. While Queer Radicals, an LGBT organization, backed the event, it attracted many students who were not affiliated with the LGBT Center.

Aundeah Kearney ’10, for instance, said she had friends involved in planning the event and decided to help out because it was “for a really good cause.”

“It’s a time when people would be going out anyway, and people go out and help other people while we’re actually enjoying ourselves. And that’s something that doesn’t happen every week,” she said, sitting cross-legged on a foldable brown table by the entryway and counting out change while her friends finished hanging streamers from the stairway.

“I’m here to support my friends [who are dressing up],” said Isaac Engels ’11, who added that, though he “dressed up last year and had a ball,” his plans fell through this year because of classes.

“It’s so much fun to see friends who put so much time into it,” he said. “I know friends who bought their costumes in August.”

Engels, who said he’s very involved in the LGBT community on campus, explained that he thought the event’s consistent success can be attributed to its appeal to all sectors of the Princeton community.

“What I love about it is that it’s not just an LGBT event,” he said. “People who have nothing to do with the LGBT Center, frats bringing pledges, people who just think it’d be fun to dress up [all come]. It’s really a campus-wide event.”

Engels noted that the widespread appeal of the Drag Ball derived from its inclusiveness. “It’s at Terrace, for crying out loud,” he added. “It’s totally not judgmental; it’s not political. It’s just great for everybody to come out, go wild, have fun. I love that all types of people come out for it.”

Andrew Chong ’11, a Terrace member who donned a padded dress of purple sequins and a white studded belt for the occasion, echoed Engels’ sentiment, saying that Terrace was the perfect location for the annual festivities. “Terrans pride themselves on being alternative in many senses of the word, including those of gender and sexuality,” he explained, adding, “I think everyone’s going to have a good time.”

Chong also noted that one of the Drag Ball’s benefits lay in its inversion of the usual Street-going routine. “I think the issue of our ideas of gender and sexuality is so dynamic. I really feel like it’s good to step outside your comfort zone once in a while and experiment,” he said. “It’s always a good idea to question what people accept as normal, because, for me, this is more normal than anything else … I think everyone could spend a night or two like this.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

“It really allows you to become a different person,” Roxy said of his adopted identity, retying the bow on his bright red trench coat. “You really begin to develop a different identity. And I think it’s important to question the normative gender roles we have in society.”

Roxy and Tina identified several benefits of the event, including increasing awareness of LGBT issues, provoking discussion and establishing an interesting tradition on campus.

As they turned to help prepare their friend and drag queen-hopeful Nikita, a tall brunette clad in black lingerie for the competition, a friend, Kevin Jeng ’10, came over to wish them luck.

“I’m strangely attracted to both of you right now,” he said, noting that part of the fun of the evening came from the inevitable occurrence of straight guys mistakenly hitting on drag queens. “I’m gay, but, like, wow. They really look like women,” Jeng said.

Jeng, who is in his third year as an LGBT educator, added that his friends had “been excited about this for a month.”

Pausing to compliment Nikita’s fishnet-covered legs, Jeng explained that his favorite part of the evening was the communal fun experienced by students of all gender identities.

“What I love about it is straight guys and straight girls come and dress up and have a ball doing it … and I think it shows support for the gay community,” he said. “It’s people you wouldn’t expect to do it. You see them and it’s like, ‘Wow, I would never expect a straight guy to dress up.’ ”

Roughly 250 students filled the corners of the main room, many climbing onto chairs and ledges to better glimpse the festivities, despite the raised runway down the center of the room. The event kicked off around 12:30 a.m. with a performance by Roxy and Tina, who strutted down the catwalk to “Lady Marmalade.” Participants, including such thematic performers as a masked Zorro and a tall, buxom blonde stewardess, then had an opportunity to walk down the illuminated platform. Techno beats blared as the two emcees kept up a coy and teasing commentary.

“It’s fun. It’s novel,” Stephanie Hill ’10 said. “Mostly, it’s just a good time. It’s really fun to push boundaries, question what’s appropriate. It’s really fun to figure out, ‘How do guys dance? How do guys walk? How do guys act?’ ”

Like her fellow students, Hill noted that the ball’s openness was a large part of its appeal. “I like events like this because it’s not particularly geared to the LGBT community. It’s just a part of the community,” she said.

Hill also explained that events such as the Drag Ball helped push the University community in what she said was a positive direction. “I think Princeton as a whole takes itself a little too seriously. I think anything that makes it laugh at itself, take itself a little more lightly, is a good thing,” she said.

After all of the costumed guests had had a turn in the spotlight, the finalists for the drag competition were announced. During the second round, the queens and kings had a final chance to perform and give a lap dance to the judge of their choice. After a few minutes of deliberation, the winners were announced and presented with a bottle of wine. Drag king honors were taken by a pair of petite lumberjacks, while the drag queen title was awarded to Nikita, who had captivated the audience with her top hat and matching black whip.

Not all of the guests were Princeton students. One observer, who asked to be identified as Richard and who dressed for the event, was on campus visiting a friend and said that the night — as well as his experience on the Street in general — presented him with an interesting take on Princeton’s social life.

“It’s not what I expected. Coming from a state school, you expect it to be more partying [there], but coming here [to the Street] and looking around, it’s a lot more communal, a lot more, ‘Let’s have a good time together,’ ” he explained. “It’s not what you’d expect from — I hate to say it — an Ivy League [school].”