As Chicago drag king Peeper Johnson sprints down the alley between tables full of spectators, the brothers of Sigma Lambda Beta, clad in their letterman jackets, beam and cheer.
Earlier this month, the fraternity turned Cortelyou Commons into DePaul’s hottest drag venue for one night only. The event, dubbed the “Purple Reign Extravaganza,” included seven performances from local Chicago drag artists.
Mateo Felipe, Sigma Lambda Beta’s marketing coordinator, conceived the event to critique machismo— a Spanish word for strong or aggressive masculine pride— and in the Latino community and uplift queer voices in Greek life. His brothers were all for it.
“We needed to host this event. We needed to break that stigma of what a fraternity is, to separate ourselves from that ‘frat’ word,” said Misael Reyna, a Beta brother and DePaul senior.
Each of the seven artists prepared a lip-synch number that showcased their relationship with masculinity as people who bend gender professionally. After their numbers, performers were invited back onstage to share their drag story and how it relates to a greater theme of machismo.
But the celebration wasn’t without controversy. After Felipe posted an event flyer on Facebook, hate comments from brothers and alumni started pouring in.
“We had a bunch of people saying that this wasn’t necessary,” said Luna Eclipse, local drag performer and host of the event. “(They were) talking about forcing sexuality on people. On the flyer, Mateo put ‘Bring dollar bills to tip,’ and someone responded, saying, ‘They’re asking us to bring dollar bills. What’s next? Strip shows?’”
The comments quickly escalated. Several frat brothers said they received private messages containing homophobic language and threats.
“A lot of the pushback was that the event had nothing to do with our ‘fraternity values,’” Reyna said, “and how we’re being steered the wrong way, or the chapter was a disgrace. It was just hating.”
The DePaulia reached out to Sigma Lambda Beta’s advisor for comments and has yet to hear back.
Eclipse said these bold reactions demonstrate why the event “had to happen.”
“Those people are so uncomfortable with anything that doesn’t fit their rigid definition of masculinity,” Eclipse said. “Seeing the show happen and seeing people be so openly supportive of it — it’s what we really needed.”
The event included a table with information from the DePaul chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action.
Madison Webb, DePaul junior and PPGA president, said the Purple Reign event opened her to an entirely new realm of collaboration.
“It made me think about the biases I hold,” Webb said. “I think there are stereotypes put on Planned Parenthood, and we’re always fighting those, but then we also kind of put a bias against the idea of a fraternity or a sorority. Maybe that’s why we miss a lot of opportunities to collaborate.”
Event attendees included DePaul students, Chicago drag artists, members of other multicultural fraternities and sororities — including Sigma Lambda Gamma and Gamma Phi Omega — and multigenerational Beta alumni who were willing to embrace their organization’s new type of programming.
“One of the original Betas was there at his first drag show,” Eclipse said. “It shows that people can be any age, they can be older, they can be part of a community where machismo is present, and their viewpoints can still be 100% supportive.”
With the event’s success — and its pushback — the brothers of Sigma Lambda Beta vowed to continue uplifting their queer siblings and breaking down boundaries with future programming.
“It felt right, especially with the bans on drag being supported by (conservative) religion,” Eclipse said. “We were in a very clearly religious space at the country’s largest Catholic university, and we were allowed to do this. We were given this amazing opportunity. It felt right, for sure.”
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