Va. School Picks Drag Queen for Homecoming

By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 20, 2009 7:06 PM CST
Va. School Picks Drag Queen for Homecoming
Ryan Allen, competing under his drag queen persona of Reann Ballslee, waves to the crowd at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., after being crowned Ms. Mason on Feb. 14, 2009.   (AP Photo/Teddy Meyer/Broadside)

For the first time in years, students at George Mason University in Virginia are at odds over their homecoming queen—because he's a drag queen, the Washington Post reports. Senior Ryan Allen entered the competition as a lark, taking the floor at last weekend's basketball game against Northeastern in zebra-print pants and size 12 pumps. Now the joke has become serious for some. "It's really annoying," one said.

"The game was on TV," he went on. "All eyes were on us. And we do something like this? It's just stupid." Others are excited to see the domain of pretty blonds infiltrated by Allen, who performs as a drag queen at local clubs. "He deserves to be queen," said a student from Lebanon. "He's already a queen for everybody." Allen himself is thrilled. "It was one of the best feelings I've felt in a long time," he said. (More Drag Queen stories.)

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