Julie Conlon
Equinox Staff
Brides. Cowboys. Bumblebees. Tramp stamps. Not your typical Thursday night crowd in the Night Owl Café, but when KSC Pride threw their annual “Gender Blender” Halloween dance, nothing was left off-limits.
KSC Pride is a club on campus whose goals are to “create and perpetuate an understanding of homosexuality and alternative lifestyles in order to improve the quality of life for everyone associated with the KSC community.”
On Oct. 27, KSC Pride presented their annual “Gender Blender” Halloween dance. This year’s theme: drag queens, featuring Manchester, N.H. Club 313’s drag queen diva Lady Sabrina and her entourage.
“This year we decided to play with the theme of gender,” Pride Secretary Julia Rasku said. “We’re so excited to have Lady Sabrina come tonight.”
Pride Public Relations Coordinator Robin Harris dressed as Apple Jack from “My Little Pony” for the evening. She expressed her excitement for the night’s festivities as she explained her expectations.
“Tonight is a crazy, no-gender boundaries night,” she said. She continued and explained how she hoped the night would promote tolerance of all gender varieties.
“Men can dress as woman, woman can dress as men– it’s judgment free,” she said.
Fellow executive board member Avi Bacchiocchi agreed with Harris’s statement when she said, “Tonight is about expressing yourself in a free way.”
As the first snow of the season fell quietly outside, the cob-web-transformed NOC filled to the max with the sounds of “A Goodtime DJ’s” DJ George Whitehouse.
Whitehouse, who worked for Pride on events, said working with the club was one of his favorite jobs.
“These guys are a blast,” he said. “They really know how to have a good time.”
With Michael Jackson and Rihanna beats ruling the floor, junior and third-year Pride member Cutler Rines took a moment to comment on the night’s festivities.
“This is the perfect environment where everyone can be who they are,” he said amidst a sea of costumes and drag. “It’s also a really good excuse to get creative with costumes,” he said, pointing to his handmade “Sleeping Beauty” witch creation.
As the hours slipped by and anticipation for Lady Sabrina’s arrival grew, the NOC dance floor heated up with old favorites like “Cotton Eye Joe” and the “Cha Cha Slide.”
KSC sophomore and Pride member Courtney Flanders said she had been looking forward to the Gender Blender all year.
Dressed as a bumblebee, Flanders said, “This is such a great, safe place for anyone to start being who they really want to be. People should feel comfortable dressing however they want.”
By 9 p.m., in true diva fashion, Lady Sabrina arrived an hour late with her entourage, entering the crowded dance floor to the music of the Backstreet Boys. The crowd burst into applause and screamed with excitement as many took in their first glimpse of a man dressed in a tight leather jumpsuit, blonde wig, heavy makeup, and oversized, fake breasts.
Lady Sabrina immediately took control of the stage, taking with her the once light, flirty atmosphere as she launched into her provocative opening routine. Her two best girls, Sue Nami and Bootz drank a much whispered-about mystery juice as they cheered from the side.
Single dollar bills scattered across the floor; some were transferred mouth-to-mouth, while some landed in Sabrina’s cleavage.
Never the shy one, the drag queen teased her audience as she danced, groping herself repeatedly, drawing a daring few audience members in for a touch followed by a public make-out session. With a single suggestion of drunken sex following the show, Sabrina held the crowd’s attention for the rest of the night.
Guest and KSC senior Joe McConaughy said he enjoyed Lady Sabrina’s show.
“I’ve just had a ton of fun,” he said. “I’m so glad Lady Sabrina could make it; that just made the night.”
Freshman Heather DeSousa said she found Lady Sabrina’s presentation “shocking,” but also “absolutely hilarious.”
Rasku said the night was all she could have hoped for.
“I was thoroughly pleased with how the night turned out. I felt there was a great buzz and the queens were well received,” she said. “I have had quite a few people tell me that they really enjoyed the dance, which is absolutely wonderful.”
Julie Conlon can be contacted at jconlon1@ksc.mailcruiser.com
