That’s the rule of the annual fundraising event, Wig Night Out. Each year, D.C.’s gay bar-goers don wigs and hairpieces — complete with bows, hats and various other accoutrement — and venture out with friends for a night of frivolity. Each years, the wigs are more decorative, more ornate, more flamboyant.
“The wigs were hitting the ceilings — that’s why we had to take it out of Dito’s Bar and couldn’t have it downstairs at Cobalt anymore,” says Jack Jacobson, who’s been involved with the event since 2010.
Wig Night Out 2013 – Photo: Ward Morrison
Wig Night Out began in 2009 when ten friends wore wigs to Dito’s Bar at Floriana before hitting up other local establishments. One interested patron asked if the wigs were part of a fundraiser, which sparked the idea. Now in its seventh year, Wig Night Out raises money for Point Foundation, which provides financial scholarships and support for LGBT students. This year’s fundraiser will be held on Saturday, Jan. 30 at JR.’s, starting at 9 p.m.
Over the past six years, the event has raised more than $37,000, and has sparked spin-offs in Chicago and New York.
Wig Night Out 2013 – Photo: Ward Morrison
“It’s the easiest fundraiser I’ve ever thrown,” says Jacobson, who serves as the chair of Point Foundation’s trustees for the D.C. area. “It’s literally as easy or as fantastic as you want to make it. Some folks grab whatever they can find in the back of their closets, some will buy special wigs that are made by wigmasters. About four years ago, I had an extra large ’50s-style bouffant. That was my favorite. I nicknamed it my ‘Doris’ wig. And halfway through the event I traded my mom for her wig. She had a beehive.”
For Jacobson, the event evolved into a family outing, something he never could have envisioned growing up in a conservative South Dakota household.
“When I was in college, my mother found out I was gay and threatened to withdraw the financial and emotional support I needed to get through college,” he says. “Now, almost 20 years later, both she and my dad support Point Foundation, and two years ago, the three of us wore wigs and worked the door together.”
Jorge Valencia, Point Foundation’s executive director, say it recently received 2,200 applications from LGBT scholars, vying for up to twenty-five slots. On average, each Point Foundation scholar receives about $25,000 per year.
Wig Night Out 2013 – Photo: Ward Morrison
“Every time I have an opportunity to sit with the scholars, I’m still shocked to hear the amount of obstacles and challenges that young people have because of who they are,” Valencia says, recalling the story of one young finalist who appeared very nervous and struggled to make eye contact during his final interview.
“During the buffet lunch that followed, I was standing next to him and said, ‘See? It wasn’t that bad. You did really well.’ And he said, ‘No, it wasn’t that bad at all. What was tough for me was to be in a room where, for the first time in my life, everyone wanted me to succeed.'”
Valencia is grateful to events like Wig Night Out, as the money raised is essential to supporting Point Foundation’s mission of cultivating future LGBT leaders.
“We are investing in young people who are going to be our doctors, our educators, our politicians, in every aspect of our lives,” he says. “If you have people committed to diversity, then you start to change and move the needle when it comes to inclusiveness.”
Peruzza – Photo: Ward Morrison
Dave Perruzza, general manager of JR.’s, says the lighthearted atmosphere of Wig Night Out is what makes it so enjoyable. It’s more effective than other charity fundraisers because participants are getting something in exchange for their donations: a fun, memorable time.
“I can’t wait for it,” he says. “I love this event.”
Wig Night Out allows Perruzza to indulge his creative side as he cobbles together a different look each year. One year, he and several others took advantage of a sale on styrofoam wigs at Target. Last year, he and his friends decided to go in male wigs as opposed to female wigs, with Perruzza wearing a wig made of real hair — something he’ll likely repeat this year.
“I kind of like the boy wigs,” he laughs. “They give me hair that I don’t have anymore. It’s a good way to make my receding hairline disappear.”
The 7th annual Wig Night Out is Saturday, Jan. 30, from 9 to 11 p.m. at JR.’s, 1519 17th St. NW. Suggested donation is $10, with all proceeds going to the Point Foundation. Visit facebook.com/wignightout.
A rainbow crosswalk mural in Delray Beach, Florida -- dedicated to the LGBTQ victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting -- was vandalized for the third time on June 17, when a man in a black pickup truck was caught on camera intentionally leaving tire marks across the paint.
Surveillance footage released by Delray Beach Police shows the driver waiting for another car to pass before spinning his wheels and speeding off, leaving black burn marks on the mural and surrounding rainbow crosswalks.
The video, released by Delray Beach Police, also shows the same truck returning to the intersection later and performing another burnout, continuing across the full length of the intersection.
On July 21, Wilmer Chavarria, superintendent of Vermont's Winooski School District, was detained for hours by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport after returning from a family visit to Nicaragua with his husband, Essex High School teacher Cyrus Dudgeon.
Officers seized Chavarria's phone and computer, separated him from Dudgeon, and interrogated him for at least five hours about his marriage and his job, according to Vermont's alternative weekly Seven Days.
During the interrogation, agents questioned whether Chavarria and Dudgeon were really married and repeatedly asked if Chavarria was actually a school superintendent. In an email to school board members, Chavarria described the experience as "abusive interrogation" and said he was "treated in a manner that is deeply disturbing and unacceptable."
James Lantz, a 64-year-old gay man with terminal cancer -- known online as the "Angry Gay Grandpa" -- has been ordered to pay $16,575 in damages and a $200 fine after gluing his hand to a railing in the Pennsylvania State Capitol last year to protest anti-transgender lawmakers. The Burlington, Vermont, resident was initially charged with two felonies -- institutional vandalism and criminal mischief -- along with a misdemeanor offense.
Lantz later accepted a plea deal in which prosecutors reduced the vandalism charge to a misdemeanor. In exchange, he pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, agreed to pay restitution for damage to the railing and nearby seating in the State Senate’s visitors’ gallery, and will serve a year on probation, according to PennLive.
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