Latrice Royale, the female impersonator who grabbed international fame in 2012 by appearing on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” crowned two winners of the Mr. and Miss Pride South Florida Pageant.
The contest, staged at the Aventura Arts and Cultural Center on Monday, March 19, features drag queens vying for the title. The pageant is different from others not only because of the cachet of Royale (whose real name is Timothy Wilcots), but also because the competition has a male talent portion. (For more information, go to Facebook.com/MissPrideSouthFlorida.)
“They will compete in five different categories,” Royale explained hours before the pageant started. “Presentation, where they will show their pride and show their creativity. Then, they will compete in swimsuit. There’s talent, evening wear and question-and-answer, which is drawn from their own bio, so if they screw up then they deserve a zero.”
Dee Ranged is the new Miss Pride South Florida 2018. Rolly Villaverde is the new Mr. Pride South Florida 2018.
On hand were former titleholders. We asked them to explain the importance of the pageant system in the LGBTQ community.
Wendy Williams (Miss Pride South Florida 2003): “This pageant was what springboarded me into the actual pageant system … to be seen in order to get bookings and stuff.”
Diva (Miss Pride South Florida 1992): “Pageantry is a great way to introduce yourself to society in general. People come from all over the country to watch pageants, to see the contestants. They might never have heard of you. You may be a legend in your town, somewhere. You come here and there’s club owners, there’s fans. And now, with social media going on, it’s amazing. You can develop a great clientele. You can be offered bookings, shows. It’s amazing. Twenty-five years ago, you couldn’t really get booked into clubs unless you had a title. Nowadays, it’s just a great platform to bring you out into the public eye.”
Judas Elliot (Mr Pride South Florida 2017): “To me, I think the title has really meant a sense of community. The past 365 days, I have met so many South Florida entertainers. We did an event called ‘Mister Act,’ [a drag parody of the movie ‘Sister Act’] … where we all we all kind of came together, met these people for the first time, and I had to put on a production with them. Being a representative of Pride South Florida kind of helped me connect to them. It really brought me together to meet other people I probably never would have met had I never come to compete here last year.”
Sasha Sommers (Miss Pride South Florida 2005): “It will take you to different levels. It depends on what level you want to take it to also. It opens many doors for you and the possibilities are endless.”
Delores T. Van-Cartier (Miss Pride South Florida 2017): “It’s not like another system where you just win and then you come back the next year and give it up. You actually do things. You actually feel valid. A lot of time, you get lost in your day-to-day life. I’m in Corporate America. I’ve been in Corporate America since 16 years old, and I’m 40 now. But drag has always been secondary to me. I’ve always wondered if I would have followed the same path that others followed, how far would I be? At some point in the last 20 some odd years, I became the girl on the videotape. You know, the person who was winning pageants, the person who newcomers, people who’ve never done this before, look up to. And that’s what Latrice is about. That’s what Pride South Florida is about. It’s about being that humble person, but being on a different plateau where you can actually do some good. And connect with people. It truly is something different from what we normally do. Not to downgrade anyone else, but it’s about the community. So that’s what makes it feel good.”
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