BrowardPalmBeach.com – By Marya Summers
That guy’s dress cost how much money?
Beauty pageants are all the same ? the smiles, forced; the answers, rehearsed; the movements, choreographed. The Miss South Florida Illusion Pageant is no different ? except that producer Gus Sanchez restricts entrants to drag queens “who have no silicone or surgery below the neck.”
Wearing a blue-sequined tuxedo jacket and a perma-smile, Sanchez gently took my hand and guided me through Steel, the Fort Lauderdale “video lounge and dance club” where the event was held.
My chirpy host raised his barbell-pierced eyebrow and announced a diabolical plan: “I’m taking you to hell.”
He pushed open the glass door to the colorful, well lit backstage area (normally the front bar). As my eyes adjusted, I noted the room was full of female impersonators in various stages of dress.