Miss Gay IU crowned at IU Auditorium

Friday’s Miss Gay IU pageant celebrated the art of drag with sarcasm, musical performances and a beauty pageant.\nDrag queen contestants performed a variety of pageant activities Friday night at the IU Auditorium in hopes of attaining the Miss Gay IU title. Contestants’ musical performances ranged from Britney Spears to Avenue Q. \nThe pageant winner and new Miss Gay IU is Britney Taylor. \nMiss Gay IU has been an IU tradition for 17 years since the first Miss Gay IU, Taryn Blake, was crowned. The competition, hosted by Ginger La’Vie and Vicki St. James, consisted of personal interviews, evening gowns displays, talent productions and onstage interviews. \nSt. James started the show with a warning to any easily offended or younger members of the audience, saying “This is a mature show. If you brought children, you made a parental decision,” and telling audience members to leave if they were uncomfortable with the content of the show. \nSt. James said IU’s student-run gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender student union, OUT, went to great lengths to create the entertainment event. She said the show has an educational value to it.\nLa’Vie, an IU alumna, former Miss Gay IU and co-host for the night, helped St. James fill the stage with humor and sarcasm. \nAt one point, St. James dove onstage for a dollar bill that one of the contestants had dropped, responding to audience laughter with a “whoops, I think I damaged a tit.” At another moment, La’Vie joked that the bubble containers that audience members threw onstage were “lube.” \nThe crowd participated when given one of two signals from the hosts. One included unified hand-clapping when hosts yelled “hands together,” while the other involved shouting “Fuck you” when asked for an “attitude check.” \nThe pageant contestants included the winner Taylor, Eva Rodriguez, Skyler Blackwell, Arianna Stone and Chanel Cartier. Each of the contestants spoke of past experiences and performed a variety of songs. \n“I’m amazed we have such a great turnout, because you know there’s so much hate and crime and gay-bashing, and it’s really nice to see everyone come together,” said Joshua Sutton, OUT president.\nHe said OUT promotes the welfare of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community in Bloomington and the IU student body. Miss Gay IU is one of the group’s biggest events. \n“The point of Miss Gay IU is to celebrate a night of diversity ... You are coming out, showing your support and you are getting an education, I guess, by people who look better than women,” Sutton said, joking. \nHe said the event also doubles as a fundraiser, with 10 percent of the proceeds going to the Little Red Door Cancer Society in Indianapolis. The rest went to OUT expenses. \nAfter a lengthy scoring process, former Miss Gay IU India Black crowned the new champion. Taylor’s crown-winning performance was “It Sucks To Be Me” from Avenue Q.