The OU Gender and Equality Center will team up with the Union Programming Board to present the first Crimson and Queens Drag Show on April 26.
The evening will include an hourlong discussion moderated by the UPB about drag in LGBTQ culture. After the discussion, the show will feature performances by student drag queens and professional queens from local group Norman Pride. There will also be a headliner performer who has yet to be revealed. The entire event will be free and open to the public.
Jerry Lessley, a petroleum engineering senior and the ally programming chair of the LGBTQ program advisory board, said he will coordinate the event.
Lessley said the show has been in the works since Renee Hilton, a professional queen in OKC and former Miss Gay Oklahoma, visited the university last year to talk about the history of drag. The discussion had a large turnout, which Lessley said inspired him to push for a drag show at OU.
“It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for quite a while,” Lessley said. “It’s such a large event — we haven’t done anything on this scale before. So it took a long time to plan out logistically and make it possible.”
Lessley said that while he thinks the event will be an enjoyable experience for students, he also wants the show to be educational.
“Drag has been a part of the LGBTQ community since before the Stonewall Riots,” Lessley said. “(Queens) like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera helped start the modern gay rights movement. Because of that history, I think it’s important to offer students that cultural experience.”
Lessley also said he hopes the show will create new fans of drag, bringing the industry further into the mainstream.
Any student with drag experience can sign up online. Applications are open until March 14. Live auditions will be held after spring break. Students can email gec@ou.edu with questions.
