Lexington’s annual OUTLaw drag show “The Night of 1,000 Icons” provided a safe space for queer youth and the ability to connect to their community.
The event, hosted by the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law OUTLaw organization, was held at The Bar Complex on Thursday, March 27, and featured drag performances, drinks and entertainment.
Scarlett Princess, one of the professional drag queens performing at the event, said the show was a way to support the community and what it stands for.
“I love it because y’all are out here fighting for what is on this stage right now,” Princess said. “You’re fighting for literally everybody. You’re fighting for the babies, the they thems, the trans, the drags, the gays.”
According to the OUTLaw BBNvolved page, all the event’s profits will go to the Lambda Legal organization, a national organization that gives recognition for LGBTQ+ civil rights, the Lambda Legal’s website said.
Organizer of the event, Tate Craft, said his favorite part of the event was seeing the people attending having fun and stepping away from their law school work to come together and interact with one another.
“We’re studying all the time, and it’s an opportunity for us to get out in the community,” Crata said.
The purpose of the OUTLaw program is to provide a safe space for members of the LGBTQ+community in UK’s college of law and to help keep the community updated on laws affecting the community, according to Crata.
“It’s about being visible and bringing the law school community together,” Crata said. “We’re a pretty tight-knit little org inside the law school.”
Director of Community Outreach for OUTLaw Savannah Molyneaux said she wanted the people in the audience to feel pride and celebrate their community and peers.
“I hope that everyone feels pride, they feel proud of the event, they feel proud of themselves,” Molyneaux said. “We’re celebrating ourselves. The performers are celebrating themselves, and we’re celebrating those performing.”
Florentino Riesgo-Hawthorne, also known as “Lottie the Stripper” in the drag community, is a current UK law student and first-year representative for OUTLaw.
Riesgo-Hawthorne, who performed in the show, said he hoped performing would help the audience feel more comfortable being themselves.
“I like the people, they’re very sweet,” Riesgo-Hawthrone said. “I’m not from here. I’m from southeast LA, so I didn’t know anybody here when I moved, and I think the gay community is very important.”
