Elaborate dresses, big hair and colorful makeup are not typical weapons in the fight for equality, but they were in full force Saturday night in the Student Center ballroom.
The Spectrum Alliance, Auburn's gay-straight organization hosted its third annual drag show to raise awareness for the organization and promote its petition to add transgender individuals into the nondiscrimination clause of the University's constitution.
Sexual orientation was added to the clause in 2007, but gender identities are not included.
"Transgender people get harassed a lot on campus, and we want people to get in trouble for that because it's getting to the point where it's almost violent--everybody needs to be protected," said Mickey Riis, freshman in psychology.
The stage was adorned with streamers, balloons and a "diva" backdrop.
Performers danced and worked hard to pump up the audience and earn dollar bills.
Riis, whose stage name is Ben Gettinsom, made her drag show debut last Friday night.
Although she said she was nervous at first, she had a blast on stage.
"I did four songs--the first one was Mulan's 'I'll Make a Man Out of You,' which is just ironic and funny," Riis said.
She said a valuable aspect of participating in a drag show was getting to see the world from a different perspective.
Adam Gatlin, an organizer of the show and last year's winner, said his initial reason for participating was to raise money and awareness for a great cause.
"It's really kind of to poke fun at the whole gender role thing--that's what the drag show is about," said Gatlin, whose stage name is Trangelina Jolie.
"It's a little nerve-racking on stage because all eyes are on you, but it's a lot of fun," Gatlin said.
Vanity Jaslynne Mac, junior in apparel merchandising and design, was another first-timer.
"My stage name is Vanity, so I knew I had to do something that incorporated that, and Christina Aguilera made a song called 'Vanity,' so I knew that was the song I had to do cause it described me fully," he said.
Mac said he was nervous at first, but once on stage he was in his element and thought the experience was fun.
"It's a place where LGBT people can just be themselves with no judgments," Mac said.
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