George Mason U. elects man as homecoming queen

[Tab]

Source: Associated Press

FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason University students have elected a drag queen as homecoming queen. Student Ryan Allen beat out two women for the title at the small school in suburban Washington, D.C., famous for its run to the Final Four a few years back.

Allen competed under his drag queen persona of Reann Ballslee.

Allen, who is gay and performs in drag at nightclubs, said he entered as a joke. But he considers the victory one of his happiest moments and proof the school celebrates its diverse student body.

The senior from Virginia's Goochland County won the pageant about a week ago at a sold-out homecoming basketball game against Northeastern. George Mason's basketball team pulled off a string of upsets to advance to the Final Four in 2006.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090220/ap_on_re_us/homecoming_drag_queen

[kestrel91316]

1. I am sorely disappointed that the article doesn't have her pic.

I have a completely weird fascination with drag queens (particularly the ones that don't look at all like men).

[Sebastian Doyle]

3. Here's her MySpace page

Listed under her drag queen name, of course.

http://www.myspace.com/reannballslee

[sinkingfeeling]

8. From the pictures in the album, her makeup is a tad overdone.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=32449535&albumId=67718

There's a picture here:

http://www.dailymail.com/News/NationandWorld/200902191001

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. I do too. I love to look at them.

They are fascinating.

[Lucky Luciano]

13. So, do they prefer to be referred to as "her" or "she"

even if they are actually "he?"

[FreeState]

17. They are not Transgenederd - they are in character

so their character would be identified by the sex (there are women who do drag too... Drag Kings).

[Bicoastal]

2. I can't wait to hear how this is supposedly destroying America's values.

Good for him, though.

[Tab]

4. I have to call my wife as quickly as possible!

My marriage is threateneed!!

[demoborn47]

6. That's great and all but...

I'm from Northern VA and Fairfax VA is not really suburban DC, it is the plain jane BURBS. It is cool the school is in support of diversity but why can't online news put the actual city it took place in? And maybe compared to Ohio State or Michigan it might be smaller but it's a pretty big university, their total enrollment in 2007 was over 30,000. But according Yahoo and small school in suburban Washington DC, way to skew for the rest of the country.... how annoying.

[mbperrin]

7. Another glass ceiling broken!

One of our dorm residents ran for Cotton Queen from Texas A&M in 1973 and lost by 30 votes out of 4500 cast.

Now you know how far ahead those old ags were!

[edbermac]

9. I'll bet the Homecoming King is real thrilled about this.

Can't wait to see them out on the dance floor. :7

[Babette]

10. My university!!

I graduated in 1998, and let me tell you, there is a huge GLBT community there. They would often have 200 or more at the club meetings. There was a gay pride week with drag show each spring. A few of my friends told me that Mason was known as a gay school, with some estimates that 30% of the student body was GLBT. (I don't know where they got the number) Many of them specifically chose Mason because of the large gay population.

[gmudem]

18. I'm a junior at Mason now

I really doubt that the number is 30% but this certainly is a diverse school. And I'm friends with a guy that ran for homecoming king but lost. I like this university a lot and it's funny that we're getting in the news for this.

[dgibby]

11. Go, Patriots!

I'm a 1981 GMU grad. It's a great school, and I'm so glad I went there! The only thing I don't miss is the traffic!

[Binka]

12. My Gay Son Is A GMU Grad Class Of 2008!

I'm so proud of that school!

[Name removed]

14. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Triana]

15. Kewl. Heh. n/t

[mrbarber]

16. The world...

It is 'a changing!

I raise a pint to her, takes some serious chutzpah to put yourself in the spotlight like that.

[gmudem]

19. Small school? Ha

There are about 30,000 students here, and about 17 or 18,000 are undergraduates. It's the biggest school in Virginia. Maybe the AP should actually do 2 minutes worth of research before calling it a small school.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. HA! True Patriots!

:yourock: