IVOR—Thomas Parker has dressed in drag semi-professionally since 1994, and knows all about having his dress blow up in the wind.
The Ivor man has graced some of the largest drag event competitions across the nation, until recently, always wearing his low cut tank top and Get-a-man mini-skirt.
 |
Parker, 65, estimates he has won close to 30 percent of his competitions. “When Thomas won his biggest, first-place trophy at the 2003 Mrs. Virginia is actually Mr. Virginia Competion in Dinwiddie, Va., I told him that he’d be the next RuPaul,” his wife Betsy Ann Parker said. “Sure enough, he is! He won the Juwanna Mann Lookalike Contest the very next year. Now he has several trophies.” Dragging since he was 47, Parker regularly brings home trophies, cash, and first-place honor, and has even been featured in national magazines Trick or Treat and Playtranny. |
“He’s so good, when he arrives at the event, the first thing the other contestants want to know is which one of his signature outfits they’ll be competing against. They’re not thrilled when he busts out the Momma-needs-a-new-man skinny jeans,” Betsy Ann said.
Parker, the grandpa of 4, started dragging after his two children finished school.
“They were all on their own when I got into the competitions, although I wasn’t sure what they would think about it,” Parker said. “They just kept saying ‘we don’t like it.’ But then I took them down to the drag strip with me and let them see for themselves.”
Five months later, they were driving all over the state to each competition.
“The only thing is, I’m short, just 5-foot-9,” Parker said. “I had get used to wearing knee-highs and stilettos. Once I got that figured out, I could really push the envelope with my routine.”
He noted that many people don’t understand dressing in drag.
“It is a contest from a standing-start between many men dressed as the opposite sex over different events, usually at an arena or spacious hotel conference room,” Parker said. “These events range from formal wear to evening gowns to bathing suits to talent shows” he added. “Upon parading around the stage, each contestant gets judged on their outfit, presentation, and how closely they resemble an actual woman.”
Parker said bracket dragging, which is pairing contestants against each other by rounds like the March Madness you seen in college basketball, is what they do. “You should see some of these 16 seeds,” Parker said, “lookin like some damn train wreck parading around with five’o clock shadows, chest hair and giant bulges in the bathing suit competition. It’s pretty sickening.”
Parker isn’t opposed to training young men interested in the art of drag. “We’ll take novices — teenagers, their parents and friends,” Parker said. “They’ll learn how to be graceful and will know every part of their craft before we’ll let them finish the class.”
Once students have a basic knowledge and can handle the stresses of cross-dressing, they will practice at the Workforce Development Center.
To sign up and for more information, call Betsy Ann Parker at 556-8547.