Bruin Plaza hosts performers for Coming Out Week

Events are scheduled throughout the week as part of the national celebration of LGBT community

Theresa Avila (Contact)
Published: Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Off to the side and tucked away from the sun’s bright rays, a group of students formed a small crowd near the stage in Bruin Plaza.

They were not gathered to watch their friends play in a band, nor were they gathered to watch any familiar face.

Instead, up on the stage, dancing and singing in brightly colored dresses, were three performers in drag.

The performance marked the beginning of the week-long festivities for National Coming Out Week, sponsored by the UCLA Queer Alliance.

The Fairytails belted out tunes to observers around the plaza, often going down into the crowd to dance with students.

The show garnered support from students, with some taking to the stage, dancing alongside Sissy Debut, one of the singers.

When two girls jumped up on the stage to dance, she called them her “backup dancers.”

For some, a drag performance was just the type of event needed to kickoff a week of celebration and events.

“(It’s) part of the idea of having acceptance, of the whole queer community,” said Karli Santos, a second-year international development studies student. She said she had never seen a drag show in person, but that she enjoyed the show.

For others, the show provided a nice, fun experience.

“It’s catchy, it’s colorful,” said Dwayne Norma, a second-year microbiology student, about the show. “They were pretty confident and had nice outfits.”

Norma said that events such as the drag performance allow for a greater visibility of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community on campus.

“It’s good to have that visibility,” Norma said.

The series of events scheduled throughout the week feature more performances and a “Speaks Out,” leading up to National Coming Out Day on Saturday.

Initiated in the late 1980s, the event is held every year on Oct. 11 to commemorate the 1987 Lesbian and Gay March in Washington, and the first National Coming Out Day was held the following year, according to the Lambda Web site, an agency which advocates on behalf of the gay community.

Now in its 11th year, National Coming Out Day aims to promote openness about being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. That sort of openness, some students said, was exemplified by the performers.

“These performers aren’t afraid to blur the gender lines and to be out in a very public space. ... They’re willing to expose themselves to people who may or may not accept their views,” said Melanie Simangan, a third-year comparative literature student and advisor to Pan-Asian Queers. “That courage is kind of the message of National Coming Out Week.”

Simangan said that the purpose of the show was really to let other students become aware of how large the LGBT community on campus is, which she said many students often forget.

“(We’re here) to make a statement, the cliche, ‘We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it,’” she said.