S.C. PRIDE WEEK

City Paper attends a PT’s drag show

Queer analysis of the S.C. gay rights movement

By Todd Morehead

“That old guy is definitely checking you out, Paul.” “Yeah,” he groaned, “I accidentally made eye contact and lingered too long.” “Lingered?” He winced, downed the rest of his beer and waved the bartender over. “I need to slow down. … I’ll have a Scotch and water.”

Our photographer, Rayford, who looked like he hadn’t slept in days, had his equipment splayed across the bar. With a scraggly beard and a curly mop of hair wrapped in a bandanna headband, he looked like a member of the E Street Band after a stint in prison. Had I not known him, I would have sworn a hitchhiker had wandered in from the Greyhound station up the hill. He stopped tweaking his new flash long enough to fix Paul with an incredulous stare. “A Scotch is how you slow down?” Paul grinned and motioned toward Rayford with his fresh drink. “If anybody asks, I’m with him.”

Rayford shrugged, scratched his beard and headed down to the stage area to shoot the first performer. The DJ fired up the sound system right on time and old school cabaret music drifted across the bar. There weren’t many ladies—of any stripe—in the bar this night and some in attendance could be heard wondering aloud about the absence of the “fag hags.” There were plenty of young fratty-looking dudes, though. USC was definitely back in session. Up on the deck, couples on dates sat in leather booths under a mirrored wall, sipped their drinks and stared at the empty stage in anticipation. The sound of a microphone being clicked on somewhere came over the sound system followed by a voice that, to me, sounded just like Mr. Garrison from South Park. “Are you thay’yur? Hel-lo Columbia.”

The lesbian working the spotlight stuck her cigarette in her mouth, squinted one eye against the smoke and, not unlike Clint Eastwood cocking a .50 caliber machine gun, jammed the light on and swung it around to bathe the stage in a pink glow. The spotlight lady, with her feathered brown hair and wire framed glasses, reminded me of a particular philosophy professor at Carolina, had he been tattooed and dressed in shorts and a T shirt for a day at the lake.

The first chord of the Propellerheads’ “History Repeating” struck and Patti O’ Furniture, Miss S.C. Pride 2006, blazed out across the stage. To me, in her blonde wig she resembled Courtney Love on a good night, working the whole bar and mugging like Jerry Lewis in certain parts of the song. Her first number got the whole bar rocking. But the real treat was her banter with the crowd and her hilarious, off the cuff one-liners.

She was doing a bit about the drag queens backstage hiding their Johnsons with duct tape when she noticed Rayford, camera cocked, up by the stage. “Hey everyone, the paparazzi are here! Paris Hilton took the night off so he has to come shoot the other white trash girl.” She then reenacted the whole Britney Spears’ crotch shot thing to a roar of laughter. Rayford seemed nonplussed. “Yeah,” she conceded, “I guess I look more like a girl squatting to go to the bathroom in the woods.”

Alexia Valentine, the “Puerto Rican Princess,” took the stage shortly thereafter, strutting out to Carrie Underwood’s “Wasted.” Jordan DeVille sashayed out next in a long brown wig and tight dress and I found myself wondering what these folks do for day jobs. Some may hold high-powered executive gigs while others could sell shoes at Foot Locker during the week. But, here, in this element they reigned like Broadway royalty.

And, I’m not sure if it was the lighting or the booze, but Paul and I were both shocked to admit it: these young drag queens were actually kind of hot. Paul nudged me, “Do you think those are real? I mean like real implants? …I think I’m having a crisis, man.”

Down on the floor, Patti O’ Furniture was ragging some young guys at a table. “Hey, everyone, I think Bull Street relocated right over here.” The spotlight lady apparently liked that one and slapped her thigh while she bent over to laugh before erupting into a coughing fit. No one in the audience was safe that night. Paris LaFaris later called two hapless guys up on stage during her spot and made them dance for shots, urging them to make their butts “flap” and to “shake that thang for some change.”

At 12:26 a.m., exactly an hour and a half into the show, Paul officially started to come unhinged and began to shout garbled catcalls toward the stage. One of the young queens—who in a wig and makeup may as well have been a girl at Platinum—was dressed like a chick dressed like a female cop and was gyrating on a nearby pole. “Jesus, dude, I’ve got to get out of here,” Paul said, sweat beading on his forehead. “I think it just moved a little.”

Two songs later, he was juking around and on his way back from the bathroom actually slapped O’Furniture on the ass during her second act. When the smoke cleared, we’d had a blast and saw some seriously talented and often unsung local performers. For those interested in seeing these performers first hand, all money taken in on Saturday, Sept. 22 will benefit S.C. Pride. The twin duo Nemesis will be on hand as well. And with luck maybe you’ll send a text message the following morning similar to the one I received the day after our visit: “The bar tab was a bad idea,” it read. “I think I spanked a drag queen and my head hurts.”

Queer analysis of the S.C. gay rights movement

By John Dawkins and Melisa Harmon

It’s a trying time for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer (LGBTQ) community. With the upsetting set backs of last years election, the heinous murder of 20 year old Sean Kennedy in early May, recent media hype surrounding supposed “gay “ politicians and the Labor Day blunders of Jerry Lewis, it seems that affronts and attacks on our people and identity are around every corner.

For many of us, times like these cause us to push ourselves further back into a comfort zone of protectionist actions and a self defense mentality. We find comfort in community leaders who tell us that our day shall come soon. We shield ourselves from true action and find solace in the idea that we are just like them and that soon they will understand and accept us as the same.

In the meantime we hide behind banners and flags or so far in the closet that no one can find and/or hurt us. Self preservation is a powerful thing. The fear of an OUT and politically proactive life is real. They do assault us, hurt us and sometimes even take our lives. Yet we still hope that they can see us as themselves, the same, just like them. It is time we called bullshit on this ridiculous concept.

We must stop trying to conform our community to an ideal that not only does not apply, (we are not just like you) but binds us in a continuing role as the second class underdog begging for a rub of acceptance from master. Over the past twenty plus years Gay liberation has been built upon the elimination of true Queer culture. We have glossed over our individuality in order to show a squeaky clean, whitewashed and wholly untrue version of ourselves in order to gain a sympathetic nod from legislatures and our fellow hetero-citizens.

The homophobic adage of, “I don’t mind faggots as long as they don’t throw it in my face” has become an unspoken truth of South Carolina Gay organizations.

Though past efforts are to be commended, it’s indicative of our community’s woes that our leadership is primarily represented by those who come from a preexisting position of power. If we as a people seek true liberation then we cannot afford to build ourselves up on an ideology that is exclusive to a white, upper middle class, Christian, male perspective. This lack of cultural and intellectual diversity within the leadership of the S.C. Gay community has led to a narrow point of interest and limited view on policy and concerns of the community as a whole.

Consequently those Queers who fall outside of this demographic often feel alienated and unwanted by those in the leadership circle. For example, the South Carolina Gay Pride day is coming up on September 22, with a theme of “Equal Rights are Human Rights.” It is acknowledged that a day to celebrate ourselves and our community is important in these trying times. Once again the lack of diversity and cultural perspective has led to a serious oversight that has taken this day of celebration for many and turned it into an exclusive event for the few.

September 22 falls on the tenth day of Tishri in the Jewish calendar; the day of observance of Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holidays. This is the equivalent of holding the Pride celebration on Christmas Day for Christians or Ramadan for Muslim Americans. When questioned about the scheduling during this time, one member of the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement (SCGLPM) stated, “I wouldn’t be upset if it was held on a Sunday.” This goes to show the lack of understanding of diversity within our community In what appears to be a continuing lack of forethought and planning brought about by the absence of diversity within our community, there have been no allowances made for differently abled Queers who wish to attend the celebration.

No special parking areas have been designated nor has an alternate parade route been provided for those who physically can not navigate the hills and steep climbs of the parade. The examples can continue: the limited representation of people of color by the guest speakers or entertainers, no representation of the Transgendered, Intergenedered or Queer Gendered Communities, religious perspectives that only encompass a Christian ideology, etc. We are forced to ask if by equal rights the current leadership means only rights for white, able bodied, straight acting, upper middle class, Christian Gays and Lesbians?

We are not here to rip apart the job done by SCGLPM in it’s organizing of the Pride celebration. We are using this as an example of the multifaceted concerns that our community faces. In order for true Queer Liberation to occur we must move away from a white hetero-normative ideal that is ensconced in a continuation of power for the status quo. Not only must we reevaluate the direction we are heading and the means by which we are going there, but also the leaders who determine these directions. Freedom will not come unless we accept the radical idea that we are a community made up of a multitude of variants of which all are equally valid and respected. We must open our eyes and minds and see that Gay Rights are only one part of Social Justice and Human Rights and act so accordingly.

1. WE TAKE “QUEER” TO MEAN: • At peace with ones sexuality • Open and out in all aspects of life • Working towards a world devoid of racism, classism and homophobia •Part of a holistic community of Social Justice work

2. WE TAKE “GAY” TO MEAN: • “With it” in terms of sexuality or trying to come to terms with one’s sexuality • Honest in the face of one’s truth • Honest to one’s self and one’s family • Loving of oneself • Self-respecting

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