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May

2010

Update: CW to host Drag Queen competition

In Section: News Blog » Posted By: Jesse Fruhwirth

SERIOUS UPDATE #2 5-18-10 6:20 p.m.: Join in this new Pride tradition! CW's first-ever drag contest. Watch as the most fabulous ladies in drag compete for...

$1000 in cash & prizes

AND

the title of Miss City Weekly 2010!

The event June 3 will be hosted by Gorgeous Jared at the Circle Lounge. $5 cover, 21

Judges include

"I'll-do-anything" star realtor Cody Derrick
The loveliness that is Princess Kennedy
Meg Griggs of Craft Sabbath
and reporter Jesse Fruhwirth of City Weekly!

We're still accepting applicants! Go to cityweekly.net/misscw or email theword@cityweekly.net for more information!

SERIOUS UPDATE: Due to popular demand from entrants, we've moved the date of the pageant to June 3, so it will now kick-off Utah Pride Weekend. Update your calendars because you won't want to miss it. (The post below was updated 5-17-2010, 4 p.m)

It was inevitable like Ricky Martin coming out of the closet: City Weekly will host our first-ever Drag Queen competition in celebration of fierceness, fishnets, falsies and the Utah Pride Festival 2010.

Details are still being arranged--we'll release them as soon as they are settled--but we know this much so far:

There will be prizes.
The competition will be June 3, so entrants must be available that night.
The winner will ride with CW in some fabulous vehicle during the Pride Parade June 6, so entrants must be available to do that.
The winner will hold her title for one year, during which CW will hype her fabulousness while she helps hype our special events hosted by CW's The Word.
We haven't ruled out including Drag Kings, but we'll measure interest on that before deciding--so apply!

It'll be naughty. It'll be awesome. It'll be a drag show like only CW could put together.

To enter or ask questions, contact theword@cityweekly.net by May 20. Please include three photos, a short biography, and a video performance (if available). Preliminary contestants will be notified if they made it into the pageant by Friday, May 21.

Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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REPLY TO THIS COMMENT

Sundancewigofshame

You girls are so lucky that Walmartah Utah Cyber Slut is not going to be competing! Ha! My full beard would require way too much glitter for this. Sundance 2010 Wig of Shame showcased all haters who opposed gay rights as worms on a Lady Gaga inspired bridal veil head dress. We will no longer be treated as second class citizens in Utah! http://www.utahgaycommunityfreeequaldeserving.blogspot.com

gummi

First of all, I'm highly amused that you assumed that A: I am a drag queen, and B: that I am a male... seeing as I am neither. I'm a straight lady, though that information is irrelevant. I think camp is a very valid form of social commentary, and exploring gender roles and having fun while doing it is a life- affirming act. I still don't see your point about closet crossdressers- they're quite different people. The only thing they have in common with drag is the shoes, really. I think you'll find a man who has to sneak and wear his wife's clothes while she isn't home is generally dealing with much bigger issues than the clothing. A man who has permission from his wife to wear her clothes, however, is perfectly normal to me. It's about self- acceptance.

REPLY TO THIS COMMENT

BlackMamba

Uh, where is CW hetero beauty pageant contest?

If I, a red-blooded fool for women, dress up and put on the Maybelline, fishnets and a feather boa, I'm a sicko.

But if I'm gay and do it, it's a cultural phenomenon? I love the parade, but someone's sneaking hormones into CW's coffee pot.

REPLY TO THIS COMMENT

gummi

Boo. BlackMamba, you suck. If you don't get it, that's fine- but don't go acting like you're better than drag queens or anyone else. If you think hetero men who dress as women are "sick", that's your own problem. I think a hetero man who is comfortable dressing as a woman is more manly and sexy than most. Gender is as flexible and fun as you make it, and it makes me sad you feel you have to live in a box your entire life to be a man.

By the way, CW and many other local groups have beauty pageants and fashion shows featuring women all the time. Do you see a snarky comment about how discriminatory it is on the City Weekly blog every time? Nope.

BlackMamba

C'mon, gummi, I don't think I'm better than you because you dress up and I don't. The point I was trying to make is that if I dress up, but it's behind closed doors and someone discovers me doing it, I'm generally going to be labeled a nut job with issues. More Clinical than Carnivale. But if I'm gay and robust enough to be a contestant in public, whether a CW pageant or that special night when a hetero club turns into a Club Bacchus, it's cool and funny, like the British fascination with cross-dressing, garter belts and hose. Not a big deal, really. Say, have you seen the new Manolo Blahniks in size 14 EEE? Good god, they fit, but it looks like you have a Cadillac on your foot!

Jesse Fruhwirth

Hiding behind closed doors in drag seems to suggest deep discomfort with violating society's preset gender roles (that does seem sad). But performing in drag in public is the opposite: it's a declaration that the performer is not bound, and therefore more powerful than, society's gender roles (that seems strong and happy). That's also the difference between most traditional beauty pageants (reinforcing gender roles) vs. drag shows (totally subverting them with massive amounts of fabulous irony and camp). We here at CW are usually more into the subversive stuff, if you haven't noticed. But, BlackMamba, if you or any other men reading this gets dressed up in ladies' clothing only when no one is watching, just know that CW supports you and we can't wait 'till you're proud, strong and fabulous enough--the competition is stiff already--to be Utah's next big drag superstar.

gummi

BlackMamba

So, gummi, you're a woman who finds men who cross-dress sexier and more manly than most and gender flexibility is fun? I find them as appetizing sexually as finding pubic hair in bubblegum. And Jesse, if you play dress up, more power to you. I currently have no plans to experience the "stiff" competition you are apparently familiar with. But you get to the crux of what my original comment was aimed: CW does things like this to be more "subversive." I wonder why I see the word,"Fuck" in your Media One competition, but not on your pages?

gummi

If you honestly think a local rag is holding a competition for a large group of its avid readers just to be subversive, I'm going to go ahead and assume you're not a very savvy businessman. What I think is sexy and what I think is socially normal are two entirely different things, BlackMamba. I think comfort within one's own sexuality and acceptance of other people's decisions is sexy, period. Yes, straight men who do drag are sexy. That takes balls. You never did quite get around to responding to my point about all the bikini contests, fashion shows, and other straight- oriented beauty contests that go on all the time in town. I guess it's just your way or the highway, huh?