A Vermont high school turned its football halftime show into a drag pageant featuring nearly 30 students and faculty members
- A Vermont high school transformed its homecoming halftime show into a drag pageant.
- Nearly 30 students and faculty members assumed drag personas to perform to the packed stands.
Attendees of Burlington High School's Friday night homecoming game were treated to more than just a typical night of high school football when the halftime show transformed into a "drag ball" featuring both students and faculty members donning extravagant dresses, extreme makeup, and exorbitant wigs.
Nearly 30 performers took the field as their drag queen or king personas and performed to a packed crowd of supportive fans chanting "drag ball," according to the Associated Press.
The event was meant to show support for LGBTQ community members, one teacher told the outlet.
"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," Andre LeValley told the AP.
LeValley, an English teacher and Gender Sexuality Alliance adviser, who came up with the idea for the drag pageant, joined his students on the field wearing a full Shakespearean gown and wig. He told the outlet his persona was inspired by Lady Macbeth and Marie Antoinette.
When the school's athletic director, Quaron Pinckey, heard LeValley's pitch for the pageant, he suggested the performance be held at the school's big homecoming game. Pinckey told the AP 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."
The performers, who also included participants from South Burlington High School, lip-synced to "Rainbow Reign," by singer Todrick Hall as students in the stands decked out in rainbow gear cheered them on.
"Things went amazing," Ezra Totten, student leader of the Gender Sexuality Alliance at Burlington High School, told the AP. "It was just so heartwarming to see."
