Caption: Last year’s Queer Excellence Night, hosted by the Undergraduate Student Government’s Justice and Equity Committee, featured drag performances to a full crowd. Credit: Photo courtesy of Ethan Lucas.

Two years ago, the Undergraduate Student Government’s Justice and Equity Committee capped off their first Queer Week with Queer Excellence Night, which featured drag performers and offered free food in the Ohio Union.?

Every seat was filled and even more people came to watch and stood in the back, according to Ethan Lucas, a fourth-year in English and political science and the Justice and Equity Committee’s former deputy director.

Last year, Queer Excellence Night added 50 more seats, and still, more people lined the back wall to watch the show.

This year, the event was upgraded to the Ohio Union’s Archie M. Griffin Grand Ballroom to accommodate the predicted attendees, Lucas said.?

Queer Excellence Night is a free event that punctuates USG’s third annual Queer Week on Friday at 7 p.m. Event leaders say that community and celebration brings the event success year after year.?

“I think especially in today’s world, it’s so important to celebrate these identities because it’s scary,” Marin Funderburg, a third-year in history and public management, leadership and policy and director of USG’s Justice and Equity Committee, said. “This is a chance to have some hope, have some joy to bring together a student body that deserves to be celebrated. I myself am part of the LGBTQ+ community, as was the director at the time, and I think we recognized how important that really was.”

Funderburg was a part of the committee when Queer Week started three years ago alongside Lucas, and said that Queer Excellence Night was started to make a real impact around campus.

According to Funderburg, Queer Excellence Night features performances from three local Columbus drag queens this year: Vestia Sterling, Blonde Vanity and Godiva. Blonde Vanity and Godiva are returners, performing at the event each year since it started.?

Funderburg said that the title Queer Excellence intentionally brings attention to and uplifts the queer community.

“I think queer excellence can come in all different forms, of course, but with that experience, we are doing it to just highlight the goodness of Columbus and the work that people do around here,” Funderburg said. “I think by being present in these spaces, we’re highlighting that queer identities aren’t going away. They’re always going to be present and they’re putting their best foot forward in every space.”

Lucas said that Queer Excellence Night is meant to foster support and showcase the art and community that exists in Columbus.

“Queer excellence is found in that community,” Lucas said. “It’s found in the bonds between those people who maybe don’t have anybody else who understands what they’re going through and then can turn to friends or people they meet here and get that kind of support.”

For Lucas, the community found through Queer Excellence Night goes beyond the Ohio Union. He said that he often sees the drag queens that Queer Excellence Night books around Columbus, where they always talk to him and discuss how excited they were to do the event, and how they wish to perform there again.

“I think that, in general, drag queens like to go to colleges because they like to see a younger queer crowd. This is a first experience for a lot of people,” Lucas said. “It’s so exciting, especially last year when I was the one putting it on, looking out and seeing how many people were like, ‘oh my god, it’s a drag queen.’ That was so exciting for people, and I think it is for them as well. “

Lucas and Funderburg’s first drag show was at Queer Excellence Night.

“I think that there’s a lot of joy with what we do, finding a light in a darkness situation,” Funderburg said. “There’s a lot going on in the world, but we have this event where everyone can be themselves and come together and meet like-minded individuals. You are in a place full of people who think and act like you. And it’s just fantastic. It’s great for your spirit. It makes you feel truly like you can be yourself.”