by Christopher Constant

Revenge of the Drag Queens, Anchorage’s 5th annual Drag Queen Bingo, a fundraising event of the Four A’s and AMP, took place last night on 4th Avenue by Snow City Café.  Bent Alaska’s Christopher Constant was there and brought back these photos (plus one by Juli Morgan).

Drag Queen Bingo is an annual fundraiser by the Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association (Four A’s) to benefit the Anchorage Mpowerment Project (AMP), a community-level HIV prevention intervention designed to reduce the frequency of unprotected intercourse among young gay, bisexual, and questioning men, ages 18–29. AMP provides a social setting that gives young gay/bi men a safe place to meet other guys, to support each other in making healthy choices about their personal and sexual lives, and to plan and participate in events to build a stronger, healthier community.

But Drag Queen Bingo is also about much more. As event emcee Daphne DoAll LaChores put it best in event reminders posted on her Facebook wall:

What does DQB do for our community, and the larger community?

A. DQB supports all people that gather in a space with guaranteed tolerance of others.

B. DQB neither judges, belittles, or scorns behavior different from societal norms.

C. DQB encourages all to behave and misbehave in a public setting, and to shake a little glitter onto the public streets of our city to show that we, the LGBTA’s, own these streets and pay dearly for them with our property taxation and bonds, yet have no legal protection in the matters of housing and employment.

D. DQB offers a glimpse into other’s lives in their manner of drag. Whether you’re comfortable as a Betty, or a Bob, your drag can be a costume or the outward dress associated with your inner most thoughts, feelings and comfort.

E. DQB is an event, for now, and I see where it is becoming a battle cry from our community to the larger world, and through the eyes of the press, radio, television, film, and social networking, continues to present our message of Love, Tolerance and Mutual Agreement of ALL into the main stream of American culture.

As with previous Drag Queen Bingo fundraisers, Revenge of the Drag Queens was held at Snow City Café — or, rather, on Fourth Avenue right outside the restaurant, to accommodate the crowds. There were some worries in advance of the event that Anchorage’s overcast skies would start to drop rain, but — as Daphne posted on Facebook last night —

The Sun came out and proved it’s love of all, by casting some rainbow action at us. From very grey clouds and rain early in the day, to absolutely beautiful tonight.

A good time was had by all — and a lot of money was raised for AMP. Congratulations!

Descriptions of photos are above photos.

Trevor Storrs enjoys some pulled pork.

Another photo of Trevor, with some of the crowd that filled Fourth Avenue outside Snow City Café.

Miss Ida Mae.

Kristara!  Don’t miss her show Kristara Live and in the Raw Saturday night at Mad Myrna’s, to benefit the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Anchorage (GLCCA) and Alaska Pride.

Daphne (almost) crosses the line! Playing the under-21 crowd, she nearly took a tumble at the barricade between the wet and dry sections.

Bingo winners

I wrote last year,

I just kept praying I didn’t win.  Victory in drag queen bingo means you have to dress in drag and perform a money dance to help support the AMP program.  That’s messy business.

There are 6 winners per round, with 3 rounds total. Each winner dresses in drag and performs by working the crowd for dollars, which are  contributed to AMP.

More bingo winners —

Another view.

Hot stuff!

Daniel and his mom, their third year attending Drag Queen Bingo together.

I wrote about Daniel and his mother last year:

Daniel is my roommate’s boyfriend and he’s attended Drag Queen Bingo with his mother for the second year in a row…..  Amy demonstrates with her actions that she loves, embraces, supports, and will participate in her son’s life. Exactly what a young LGBT kid (or any kid) needs to make a healthy transition from youth to adult. Another great family.

This kid danced and raised hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Most of anybody. Second only to the fudge by Daphne’s 78 -year-old neighbor. (Photo published with parental permission.)

Here’s Bob getting down and draggy with Identity’s Gayle Schuh:

Thank you to everyone who volunteered, donated, and attended. Four A’s says they will have a final tally of the monies raised tomorrow.

Photo credits: Photo of Daphne DoAll LaChores with Trevor Storrs and Juli Morgan courtesy Juli Morgan. All other photos by Christopher Constant.