Music, dancing and sequined outfits rocked the stage at Delta Lambda Phi’s second annual drag show Saturday.

Drag is when people dress up in elaborate costumes and put on a show for an audience.

“This is the time for you to come out, laugh [and] have fun,” Chris Celania, graduate student and alumni of Delta Lambda Phi, said. “It may slightly put you out of your comfort zone, but get up there and give a tip to a drag queen and take part in this.” 

Members of Delta Lambda Phi from Iowa State University and the University of Iowa’s Gamma Gamma chapter, as well as professional drag queens from The Garden in Des Moines, performed Saturday in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union to fundraise for the Trevor Project and The SHOP (Students Helping Our Peers).

Delta Lambda Phi is an all-inclusive fraternity at Iowa State University that hosts philanthropies such as the drag show to raise money for The Trevor Project. It partnered with The SHOP for this year’s drag show.

The Trevor Project is an organization with the main goal of putting an end to suicide for LGBT youth. Half of the event’s proceeds went to the organization.

The SHOP is located in the Food Sciences Building and at Iowa West. It has a fully-stocked pantry available for anyone to discreetly grab food and go.

The lights dimmed at 7 p.m. to showcase the start to the show. Twelve performers were introduced: two from the University of Iowa, three from The Garden in Des Moines and seven from Delta Lambda Phi at Iowa State.

A majority of them performed twice to songs of their choice. They danced while lip-syncing the songs of their choosing.

The drag queens interacted with the audience by dancing with attendees and playfully accepting tips.

The drag queens could be seen taking dollar bills from people’s hands with their teeth and saying thank you by giving a lap dance or two multiple times throughout the night.

The hosts and performers made jokes to liven the audience. The show started with host Alex Peters poking fun at his own hosting abilities, joking it was his “first time hosting anything besides a Grindr hookup.”

For those in the audience, seeing their peers and others in drag was a way to relax but also very fun.

“[Drag] gives you the ability to put on makeup and costumes in order to project an image,” Trevor Brammer, senior in Delta Lamda Phi, said. “Creating a character that represents you or your gender identity.”