In a night of glitter and glam, Boston University students gathered at the George Sherman Union Alley to watch a drag show — featuring BU students and a local drag queen — to raise money for Youth on Fire, a Cambridge-based drop-in center for homeless youth.
The show, titled “Drag on Fire,” and performers included two students, a local drag queen and two performers from BU on Broadway’s “Cabaret.” Performers animatedly lip-synced popular songs, all while wearing elaborate costumes that glimmered in the blue and pink stage lights. The performers went through several vivid costume changes throughout the show, and throughout the night, the audience reciprocated the performer’s energy — sometimes holding out money for those in drag.
Two BU student organizations — the Trans Listening Circle and the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism — organized the event, while members of Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a local activism and drag performance group, hosted.
Taire McCobb, a TLC member and event organizer, said the show served two purposes: to raise awareness for the BU transgender community and to help a local charity that’s on the brink of closing.
“We’re hosting this event to boost recognition of us on campus,” McCobb, the College of Fine Arts junior, said before the show. “We’re doing it as a fundraiser for Youth on Fire because they are at risk of closing if they don’t receive donations by the end of this month.”
Evan Leto, another TLC member and event organizer, said the show was also organized to reinforce the message of acceptance and diversity on BU’s campus.
“‘Drag on Fire’ brings queer culture to BU in a new and exciting way that our campus has not seen in the past few years,” Leto, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, wrote in a Facebook message. “Drag has always played an important part in queer culture, so bringing that to BU’s campus is a message to the LGBT+ community at BU that they are welcomed here.”
Rachel Bennetts, a member of the CGSA, said the center co-hosted the event to generate more awareness of important LGBTQ issues on campus, which she feels the university has not done enough to support.
“We’re really trying this year to push to increase visibility for LGBTQ students on campus, which has been a really huge problem in that we’re such a minority that the administration has not really done a lot to recognize us in the past,” the CAS junior said before the show. “This semester, we’re really trying to push for students to get involved and be aware of the problems that we face in the community, especially on the BU campus.”
Shari Tumandao, an assistant director of the Howard Thurman Center, said the HTC participated in marketing the event to support inclusivity on campus and because it presented the opportunity to back student groups.
“The Howard Thurman Center’s mission is to create spaces on campus and to create programming and discussions on campus that welcome everybody to the table, so this is just another manifestation of something that can spark those conversations,” Tumandao said before the show.
Terésa Glass of the Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence said the event aligned exactly with the organization’s own mission of charity and diversity.
“We hope that this event is successful because we want the students at BU to experience the fantastic feeling of satisfaction and pride derived from affecting positive change in spite of challenging circumstances,” Glass wrote in an email.
Several attendees said they enjoyed the event and appreciated the cause it represented.
Ruby Rosenberg, a College of Communication junior, said shows like “Drag on Fire” are an important way to showcase LGBT talent at BU.
“We have a lot of talent at BU … and a lot of talent is in the LGBT community, but some people don’t always feel safe to show those talents if it’s a very broad talent show, so I think these LGBT-specific events are very important,” Rosenberg said.
Sacha De Jong, a sophomore in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said she came to the event “to support a cause, knowing that it was going to be a great show.”
De Jong said she thought the organizers did an excellent job of putting on the show.
“I thought it was amazing. They did a really good job,” De Jong said. “Amazing performers, really good setup. They thought of everything, so it was really nice.”
Liam DeBeasi, a 2017 CAS alumnus, said he came to support the organizers but ended up enjoying the event as its own entity.
“I walked in not knowing what to expect, and I walked out very excited and happy and hoping this happens again,” DeBeasi said.
Jennifer Small is a junior in the Boston University College of Communication, majoring in journalism and minoring in media science. She is one of the Co-Campus News Editors for Spring 2023.
