By Logan Martinez
He sits in a dimly lit room filled with couches and packed with people.
He loudly and proudly proclaims his sexual orientation and drag persona
as if talking about last season’s fashion faux pas, without a single
head turning in bewilderment.
Erik Niemi, 20, a junior political
science major, is in the lounge of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual and
Transgender Student Services office (GLBT) in the Lory Student Center
surrounded by people whom he considers his CSU family.
Among the
relaxed small talk, Neimi’s voice is filled with giddiness. He starts
his phrases with “Darling,” and “Oh honey,” as he describes a life full
of acceptance and love as a gay man.
He explained how coming out
to his mother was terrifying at first, but now he chuckles, “It was
comedic, actually. I sat my mom down and said ‘mom, I have to tell you
something.’ She was like ‘oh my god, what?!’ then I said, ‘mom – I’m
gay.’ and she was like ‘oh, thank god.’”
Raising her child in the
suburbs of Denver, in Northglenn, Colo., his mother found his
confession of being gay as more of a relief than a condemnation. His
mother’s acceptance came easily, because two of her brothers are gay as
well.
Growing up around two gay uncles created a “gay culture,” helping Neimi learn much about how to be proud of his homosexuality.
“I
count myself as very lucky for the situation I was born into with
uncles knowing the playing field, to give me some pointers on how to
live my life and not be apologetic for who I am, stuff like that.”
On top of his mother and uncle’s support, Neimi described how the rest of his family was also accepting of his homosexuality.
“When
I was two I was prancing around in my mom’s heels because I thought
they were fun to wear,” Neimi smiled. “I mean (being gay) has always
been a part of my life.”
Having that support at home led Niemi to
look for that same atmosphere when he came to CSU. Finding it in that
same lounge he sits today. “I just walk in and it is almost the same
feeling I get with my family, everybody is accepting, everybody is
loving.”
From being involved with GLBT, Neimi quickly volunteered
to become the sassy Veronica Devine twice a year for the CSU Student
Organization of GLBT (SOGLBT) drag show and has for the past two years.
The show occurs once a semester and raises funds for the SOGLBT campus
chapter and the Northern Colorado AIDS Project during the spring show.
Lost
in a cloud of dense hairspray, his wigs tend to be “ginormous” and
easily sit “a foot off of my head.” He pairs his long, dark locks by
plastering on intense theatrical makeup that exhibits his flashy bright
eyes and gives him a plush and voluptuous red lip. After applying his
makeup and fluffing his hair he finishes his vivacious look with a size
double-D cup filled with family breasts.
“I wear tits, as I call
them. They are actually family tits; I got them from my uncle. They are
just panty hose filled with minute rice, then you form around and then
you tie a knot and cut off the rest, so it makes a little nipple,” Niemi
explained.
After his bra and corset are on and his – ahem,
“candy”– is tucked away, he straps on platform stiletto heels, being
sure to remark, “pain is beauty, darling.” Though the heels have caused
him a bit more pain in his sashay across stage, often causing him to
tumble off stage. While this used to be one of his fears, now it has
become an inside joke between him and fellow SOGLBT members.
“Actually
I make a point now to fall every time I am on stage, because the first
time I was on stage I fell off, flat on my butt and it just became a
thing after that – must fall, at all times. If I don’t fall at least
once or my wig doesn’t fall off, it’s not a drag show,” he said in a
matter-of-fact way.
Niemi described how he pulls his dark and
mysterious look for Veronica from a couple of drag queens he has seen on
the gay T.V. network, Logo, on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“There are a
couple of queens that I really like to sample from,” Niemi explained.
“One is named Shannel and the other is Nina Flowers. Nina Flowers does
this really dramatic androgynous look, which is really awesome I think.
Then there is Shannel who does more natural looking makeup, she makes
herself look more fish, which is a word meaning looking like a woman in
drag culture terminology.”
From these looks, Neimi puts together a look that is “classy and sexy,” but includes his vibrant colors in drag look as well.
Of
course a queen does not just look to other queens for inspiration and
Neimi is no exception, having a much more famous idol in mind when he
morphs into Veronica.
“Audrey Hepburn is my star –!” Neimi
exclaimed. “She is just the essential mod girl who is just cat eye
eyeliner, long elegant cigarette holders, you know, catty, witty and
classy. That is really how I like to embody Veronica, catty, witty,
classy, stilettos.”
While drag is more of a hobby to Neimi, he
considers queens as “modern geishas,” being sure to embody that poise
and elegance. This comes easily to him because he sees himself as a
natural performer, no matter the venue. “It is just a performance to me,
just like I do in the marching band. I have been on the stage since I
was eight, so I am used to being in front of audiences. It is the same
feeling when I am on the stage or in the field or in a play, as when I
am performing in the drag show. You just have to keep going no matter
what, that is the thought I have always had.”
When he leaves CSU
he may leave the flash and feathers behind to take his gay pride to
congress. “I want to go to law school. I am eyeing constitutional law.”
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