The 3rd annual Drag Queen Bingo is on Thursday June 24 from 6-9 p.m. at Snow City Café in downtown Anchorage, and it’s a fundraiser for the Four A’s Anchorage Mpowerment Project (AMP). This PrideFest event is bigger and better than ever, according to Identity’s The NorthView:

Question: When is a drag queen not a drag queen?

Answer: When she becomes a political statement!

After last year’s summer of hate it is time for a little love. This event will feature Daphne DoAll La Chores as our hostess, performance by the beautiful Ashley, prizes, games, 50/50 raffle, songs and a lot more fun. We plan to have a great time playing bingo at this all ages event, but the best part is enjoying the costumes worn by the crowd, so be sure to dress for the occasion. Last year we filled the Snow City Café to above capacity, so this year we have closed the sidewalk to add more seating and performance space.

Four A’s staff will be on hand and in drag to welcome you and provide bingo sheets at a cost of $15.00 or, if you come in drag, $10.00. This buys you 3 games of bingo, several group games, performances, and a lot of fun from 7-9 PM. The doors open at 6:00 PM.

Stopping the spread of HIV and reducing rates of unprotected sex among young gay/bisexual men continues to be a challenge for many HIV prevention programs. The Anchorage Mpowerment Project AMP is a community level HIV prevention intervention designed to reduce the frequency of unprotected intercourse among young gay/bisexual men, ages 18-29, by mobilizing them to support each other about safer sex and to build a stronger, healthier community.

The Four A’s provides safe and sane activities for this peer to peer intervention in order to build a strong peer group with the skills to discuss HIV openly. The project led by Teddy Jones and Waylon Waddell hosts 4-6 social events, 2 volunteer opportunities, and one HIV education session per month.

You may see our group if you go to a community event. They will be the guys handing out condoms and providing HIV testing. This group is one of the best in the country at what they do, and we are very proud of the fact that last year we won the Peter Dispirito award for service to the GLBT community.

Please come out and support Drag Queen Bingo and let the greater Anchorage community see that we are not afraid and we will not go away. We feel that filling the streets with fun-loving community-minded drag queens is a good reply to those who try to spread intolerance in our community.