Drag pageant lets performers promote their talent

May 7, 2016 at 12:02a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

When you fuse a colorful, glittery array of clothing and high-energy musical adaptations with more than a slight taste of Broadway, then mix in certain traditional pieces of protocol, you have the main ingredients of the 2016 Pride Youngstown Pageant.

“It’s a drag pageant based on Miss Universe and Miss America,” Carlos Rivera said about the two-hour event Friday in Youngstown State University’s Kilcawley Center.

Five contestants vied to be crowned Mr. Pride Youngstown and Miss Pride Youngstown for the Pride Youngstown Festival, set for July 16 in downtown Youngstown. A six-judge panel critiqued the competitors mainly on how they dressed, performed and handled themselves on stage, said Rivera, PY’s secretary.

Pride Youngstown is dedicated to strengthening equality and increasing awareness around education, workplace equality, leadership, health, safety and other issues important to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, its mission statement says.

The event also was a co-production of YSU and YSUnity.

Several judges, including Paris Gibson of Salem, also gave performances between those of the contestants.

Gibson, a nursing major at Kent State University at Salem, said he’s performed in drag for a few years, including in pageants. Gibson added that events such as Friday’s pageant will give people who dress in drag an opportunity to promote their talents as well as the area’s arts and entertainment sector.

Hosting the pageant were Skyler Styles and Mona Lotz of Ashtabula, who was crowned Miss Pride Youngstown in 2014.

Lotz, wearing a silver sequin gown, befittingly opened the Broadway-laced event with his rendition of the Drifters’ 1963 hit “On Broadway.” Shortly afterward, one of the contestants dressed as Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

Also gracing the stage and runway was 20-year-old Santana Visage of Boardman, who wore a mask and sparkling costume while performing a scene from “Phantom of the Opera.”

Another category for the contestants was in formal wear, for which they modeled tuxedos, vests, bowties, glittering evening gowns and accessories on the runway in – all in a manner reminiscent of pageants such as Miss America and Miss Universe.

In addition, the judges asked the competitors questions, some of which related to why they felt they were deserving of the crown. Others focused on what progress they feel has been made toward accepting members of the LGBT community, as well as challenges they continue to face.

“Marriage equality in this country is legal, but there are many obstacles for the gay community to overcome,” Visage said. “There are still many hate crimes and much judgment. ... [But] as long as we love who we are, there’s nothing we can’t overcome.”

Another contestant said he felt that true pride means having many people within the gay community committed to working harder toward loving and accepting one another, regardless of sexual orientation.

Echoing that view was Rivera, Pride Youngstown’s secretary.

“Come and have fun,” he said of the upcoming festival and other PY events. “No judgment.”