Fairfax Pride Brings Drag Queens on Stage, Inspires Hope for Equality

Written by George Mason University student Zachary Litwiller

in downtown Fairfax is a strange place to see Whitney Houston and Nicki Minaj on the stage. 

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allied Democrats of Fairfax provided this improbable show to a small crowd on June 3.

Sort of.

The LGBTQA Democrats of Fairfax, played host to a patriotic drag show with the dual purpose of campaigning for Northern Virginia Democrats and community outreach. The event starred Millennium C. Snow and Michelle LiVigne, drag queens from Richmond.

“I love doing it,” said LiVigne, the stage name for Brandon Horton. She has been performing drag for four years and donned a Nicki Minaj outfit for this performance. 

“It feels good to bring a smile to people’s faces and to inspire people to be true to themselves.”

Snow agreed.

“Everyone has their own beat,” said Snow, the stage persona of DaJuan Gee, who has been performing for 12 years. She rendered a sublime Whitney Houston performance. 

Horton added that it is equally important to reach outside the LGBTQA community to increase understanding and momentum for gay rights.

This is exactly what Brian Reach, the 28-year-old president and founding member of Fairfax Pride, wants to do. 

Fairfax Pride, which plays host to weekly events known as Humpnight Wednesdays at various venues, is growing its outreach efforts in the Fairfax area.

“Not only do we run our Wednesday night events out of straight venues, but we participate in clothing drives and donate regularly to half-way houses for LGBT youth,” said Reach, who started Fairfax Pride almost 18 months ago. “All of this gives us an outreach of exposure. We’re doing whatever we can.”

Reach started Fairfax Pride in early 2011 to maintain the sense of community that he had found at a Herndon bar named So Addictive.

“They started having a gay night two years ago and I just dragged everyone I knew there,” Reach said. “It quickly just became a gay bar. And I thought, ‘We need to do something to bring this community more closely together.’

“So I started Fairfax Pride.”

Carissa Atkinson, a 29-year-old bartender at the in downtown Fairfax, only recently found out about Fairfax Pride and its Humpnight events.

“I think it’s important to have options like this,” said Atkinson, who moved to Woodbridge last month and has had little opportunity to socialize with other homosexuals. “I love meeting other gay people!”

It goes beyond socializing for Atkinson though.

“Pride is about being proud; proud in who you are, who you love and what you do,” Atkinson. “It’s not about flaunting our sexuality. It’s about coming together as a community – a family – and raising awareness in the [surrounding] community.”

Fairfax Pride’s new Youth and Family director and founder of Fairfax Youth and Family Pride, Gina Moritz, couldn’t agree more.

“I want kids and families to know what we are doing,” said Moritz, a 30-year-old mother of two who has been actively involved in gay rights for 17 years, in a phone interview Wednesday night. “Outreach to the [Fairfax] community is critical to what we are doing.”

Moritz is a seasoned veteran when it comes to mentoring gay and questioning youth.

In 2008, Moritz lived in Knoxville and choreographed a production at a local Unitarian Universalist Church. She was in Florida when a tragic shooting occurred at the church during a performance, killing two and wounding several others. 

“After that I came straight back and found myself something of a mother figure to these kids at the church,” Moritz said. “I had girls asking advice about how to date, or why they liked girls and I had boys asking me why they liked other boys.”

Moritz, who moved to Reston two months ago, proved an easy hire for Reach. 

“She saw us one day and practically tackled me, saying, ‘Take me to your leader,’” Reach said, describing their meeting.

“I met Brian and asked, ‘Do you have a family person? Well, you do now!’” Moritz said. 

Moritz explained her goals for her position.

“I want to provide kids with the support and love they need; the support that they might not get at home,” said Moritz. “I want the kids and their families to know that what we do today is for them and their future, for the rights of the kids.

“All the heartache and the pain and the struggles we’ve gone through is to make sure that they don’t have to live in a world where they need to worry about being treated like less than other people.”