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Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Miss Gay Binghamton 2003 Who knew that as judge of a drag show, you'd be treated so well!? Flowers, chocolates, little gifts, lunches, a sparkly 'judge' pin, and being referred to as 'distinguished' (as in 'distinguished panel of judges') were just a small part of the extravaganza. I've seen and loved drag shows in the past... but this was the first time that the queens were performing FOR me. MY vote made all the difference in whether or not they'd walk away title holders. As serious as the Miss Gay Binghamton pageant wanted to be, I couldn't help but have fun. This had as much to do with the folks I was judging with as much as the actual event... Dar Dar's friend Sue had invited her, Lori, and me and it turns out that I knew the fifth judge, Sue's friend Jason, already as well. Sue turned out to be a riot, and Lori and Dar Dar and I always have fun together. 
The judges minus Lori (takin' the pic)... Jason, Me, Sue, and Dar Dar. The first part of the pageant, the 'Male Interview,' was held at Squiggy's. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the organizer was open to including a few questions that I wrote. (We tacked one extra question on to the five standardized questions they provided.) As the name of the category suggests, this was the only time we'd see the contestants as men, and all were dressed in suits and ties. Following the interviews, all of us judges bonded over lunch at the Lost Dog Cafe. We also whipped ourselves up into an excited frenzy over what the night ahead of us was going to bring and I decided that a nap was the only thing that was going to allow me to be coherent for the entire show. We would have to report at Prism at 9:00 and the show was expected to last until after 1:00 AM. The actual show was nothing short of amazing... Anita Mann (an Ithaca Queen and the reigning Miss Binghamton) hosted the show along with Miss Bianca (an Elmira Queen who the entire panel fell in love with instantly... we were in awe of her the entire night). Our task was to rank the five contestants on a scale of 1-20 in four different categories (with the earlier interview session also worth 20 points, this gave them a possible 100 points to strive for). We judged in a creative hat (that they hopefully made themselves) and coordinated outfit category, a question and answer on stage, a talent competition (basically the performance of a song), and an evening gown category, in that order. 
The phenomenal Miss Bianca! I left some pretty harsh notes under the 'judges notes' section to each of the contestants. I guess the whole Simon Cowell/American Idol judge role went to my head. (For example, 'Nice dress, but find an iron.' Or 'You're lucky you picked that song or you would have gotten my only zero score' ... among others.) My full name is on all those score sheets, so I'm not going to sleep well for a few days worrying about the queens hunting me down and lobbing a high-heeled shoe full of concrete through my bedroom window. But I digress... At some point in the show, we got to write our own introductions that the host would read. Mine was something to the effect of, 'Should have been a porn star but settled for hosting this pageant instead.' In retrospect that doesn't make much sense, but it got a rise out of the audience nonetheless. 
Me trying to pin my flower on. I won't go too much into details... but the entire night I knew it was going to be close and come down to two queens... Miss Harley Davidson and De De Kupps (the obvious hometown favorite). They did end up being the final two, with De De Kupps winning the title. (Congratulations, De De!) I had so much fun that I'm thinking about becoming a professional Drag Show judge. Whattya think? Maybe only if I can stand the excitement... and the sleepless nights.  | private feedback | |
Hey! I'm Shane... a proud gay progressive Democrat who has recently relocated to New York City from Ithaca, NY. As I am no longer in Ithaca, I haven't quite decided the fate of this blog. Drop me a line!
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