Drag Royalty Raises Funds for HIV / AIDS

Joan-E, Robyn Graves, Symone, Raye Sunshine—Vancouver’s beloved drag queens were out in full force last week­end, united on stage at the Fit for a Queen con­cert, ben­e­fit­ing the Shoot­ing Stars Foun­da­tion. The sold-out event at Richmond’s River Rock Casino fea­tured stel­lar per­for­mances by twenty well-known female imper­son­ators includ­ing Syren, Milan, and the unstop­pable Conni Smudge, who met with Sad Mag back­stage after the show.

A past Enter­tainer of the Year (Celebri­ties Night­club) and Miss Odyssey 2006–2007, Conni has sup­ported Fit for a Queen for all of its nine years in exis­tence, and was part of the inspi­ra­tion for the knock-out event. “Car­lotta, Mandy Kamp and myself did one num­ber at Starry Night for the Shoot­ing Stars,” said Conni, “and that’s where they got the idea for hav­ing just one evening with drag queens. It was so spec­tac­u­lar, and I had such a great time.”

The Shoot­ing Stars Foun­da­tion plans spe­cial events that raise money for peo­ple liv­ing with HIV/AIDS. The foun­da­tion sup­ports orga­ni­za­tions such as the Dr. Peter Cen­ter and a Lov­ing Spoon­ful. An esti­mated 58,000 peo­ple in Canada live with HIV, and 1–2 peo­ple con­tract HIV in British Colum­bia every­day. The grow­ing need for AIDS ser­vices and sup­port often out­paces fund­ing pro­vided through tra­di­tional sources, such as the provin­cial gov­ern­ment. Community-sponsored events like Fit for a Queen help to fill the fund­ing gap.

The River Rock Casino’s show the­atre, a 1000-seat venue, was packed with sup­port­ers this year—and accord­ing to Conni, the inspired per­form­ers put on their best pos­si­ble show. “Stand­ing on stage is like stand­ing in a cereal bowl,” she said, “It’s such a steep audi­ence and there are just thou­sands of peo­ple. We’re used to per­form­ing in clubs—Celebrities, The Odyssey, et cetera—but being on that stage raises everyone’s cal­iber, and brings their A-game. And we’re all very sup­port­ive of each other.”

To learn more about the Shoot­ing Stars Foun­da­tion visit their web­site. For more drag per­for­mance, see Syren and Isolde N. Bar­ron tonight at Queer­bash.