UTM's Allies host Dragula

UTM Allies is the LGBT organization on campus that encourages equality and awareness of sexual orientations.

William Abrams is a Junior Secondary Education Earth and Science major, as well as the president of Allies. On the importance of the organization to him personally, he said that it gave him confidence and some of the best friends he has ever had.

“Just having a group serve this community is important for this area since we are the only ones. Tolerance is the goal right now, but ultimately we want acceptance,” Abrams said.

Allies has many different events on campus to raise awareness.  One of the events that generates excitement from the organization, as well as the community, is the bi-annual drag show.

On Oct. 27, Dragula, a Halloween themed drag show, debuted after much anticipation. The show had a small entrance fee, but the main contributions to the organization came from the dollar tips handed out from the audience during performances.

The drag shows are not only limited to the Allies members. Adrianne Summers, Austin Cox and Trixie Dior were guests from Murray, Ken. Andrew Patterson (Keri Luxeri) is a UTM alumnus who comes back for the drag show and is always well received by the audience. He has performed professionally as a queen at Play, a dance bar in Nashville.

Reflecting on his positive experiences with the UTM drag show, Patterson told about the time, after a show, a 12-year-old boy talked to him and told him about how he was being bullied at school and how encouraging it was to see people being themselves. 

Keri Luxeri draws her inspiration for her amazing costumes and characters from everything and anything, even stating that the chandelier in the ballroom was the inspiration behind creating a whole character.

Special guest performer, Jonny Pride, drag daughter of Keri Luxeri, made her UTM debut with a vivacious performance of Rihanna’s “Disturbia.”  Jonny Pride was a welcomed participant who performs professionally at Poise Lounge in Jackson.

One of the highlights from the night was a comedy routine performed by Harry Debbie, which got the crowd amped up for the first show of performers.

Gunner Show was a hit with the crowd with his energetic performance of  “Shake your Bon Bon/Lean like a Cholo.” It was a fun routine that had everyone dancing along and entertained.  

A dramatic turn from that would be the performance of Tryst N. Cox, whose performance started out light and fun with Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” and then got very rugged and hard-hitting with his mash-up of Childish Gambino’s “Freaks and Geeks.”

Keri Luxeri wowed with her performance of “Diva” by Beyonce with an intro of Cruella De Vil. With the amount of passion and talent palpable to the audience, it was easy to become captivated with the performance.

Adrianne Summers and White Chocolate had everyone rolling with their performance of  “Strip” by Chris Brown, when White Chocolate came out with boxers on. 

Another hilarious performance was White Chocolate and Gunner Show’s rendition of a SNL skit, which shall not be named, but it can be said that it indeed involved a box. 

Everyone, including those not mentioned, demonstrated the talent and courage that is the trademark of the group.

As far as people giving him disapproval for being a part of the LGBT community, Abrams said that those people don't know the whole story.

“They don’t know me. I am so much more than being gay. Being gay doesn’t inhibit me from [being a good person]," Abrams said.