Burlington High School’s Gender-Sexuality Alliance club planned an epic drag event to take place at halftime of their homecoming game, and with the support of staff and surrounding schools, the performance went off without a hitch.
30 colourful staff and students strutted the catwalk in their best drag last week at Buck Hard Stadium in Vermont, with audience members going wild for the performance.
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The idea for the Drag Ball came to Andrew LeValley, Burlington High’s English teacher and GSA Advisor, and when he brought it to faculty and students, they did not hesitate to show support and help pull the extravaganza together.
“I think it’s hard for boys to express an effeminate side of themselves, and often that might be the side they love the most,” LeValley told Seven Days, a local publication who also put together a video of the event. “So this is a moment for them to literally put that on for the world to see, and take a few minutes and walk down a runway and be proud.”
The students of Burlington High School, South Burlington High School and Winooski High School together make up the Seawolves football team, whose game sported the heartwarming event. In fact, it was Burlington High’s Athletic Director, Quaron Pinkney, who suggested the should become the Seawolves Drag Ball and take place during the game’s halftime.
Pinkney told the Associated Press that he wanted to “uplift the voices of another marginalized group and share a space in the athletics realm that doesn’t normally get shared.” And that, they did.
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“I was just really hoping to give our students, who are both out and the students that were in the stands who are not out, a moment to shine and feel loved, and know that there is a place for them in public schools,” said LeValley, who sashayed down the runway as Marie Antoinette for the occasion.
“It shows the Burlington community is there for each other,” said Ezra Totten, a Burlington High student who told Seven Days that she felt validated by the event and its warm reception from an enthusiastic crowd.
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