NSU’s It’s On Us and Genders and Sexualities Alliance clubs hosted their “Halloween Drag Show for Charity” on October 30. The show consisted of several performances by drag kings and queens, and members of the audience were encouraged to tip the performers, with all proceeds to be donated to RAINN: Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. They managed to raise $120 throughout the evening.
IOU is NSU’s club that focuses on preventing and spreading awareness about sexual assault. When IOU leaders thought of doing a drag show to raise money for charity, they reached out to GSA.
“We want to raise awareness on campus for sexual assault awareness, by breaking the stigma and letting students know there’s a safe place on campus,” said Rachel Nguyen, senior biology major and president of IOU.
Members of the LGBTQ community may feel discouraged from talking about sexual assault, and GSA collaborated with IOU to shed light on this fact.
“The LGBT community faces a significantly higher rate of sexual assault,” said Vir Patel, sophomore biology major and president of GSA. “I think it’s really important to not only spread awareness and de-stigmatize sexual assault and other types of abuse but also view it through the lens of a queer person.”
Beyond their donations to charity, IOU and GSA also hope to inspire the NSU community by openly talking about such sensitive topics and showing people that there are spaces where their experiences matter.
“It’s really important that people come out and tell their story,’ said Nida Haider, junior psychology major who was a drag king in the show. “Seeing these flamboyant performers – and this room full of comforting people who encourage you no matter what– provides a space where people are more inclined to come out about their stories and tell their experiences.”
After the show, each of the performers were given the opportunity to talk about their experiences and help address that there are places on campus where their issues are made a priority.
“The first step to fixing any issue is to bring awareness. If you want to fix a problem, you have to acknowledge that there’s a problem in the first place,” Nguyen said. “I think there’s not enough awareness being done on this campus. To my knowledge, we’re the first organization to do something like this and I’m glad to become that safe space for people.”
Rohith Ganjam, junior in public health and vice president of GSA, who co-hosted the show, said the drag performances showed fellow students that they can be comfortable in their own skin.
“South Florida can be a bit of a disarming place for a lot of queer individuals,” said Ganjam, “So having events like this and trying to set them up [in collaboration with] NSU makes people feel less alone on campus, when they might feel ostracized from the rest of the population.”
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