Original photo by Nic Romanoli, graphics by Jim Lawson
What a mess! What a big gay mess! Once again, a dark cloud of controversy looms over the heads of the members of the Rainbow Pride of West Virginia committee members and the official state Pride related events. So what is it this time? According to an email addressed to committee members and friends of the community from the Board of Directors of the committee on Sunday, they crowned the wrong queen Friday night at the 2008 Miss Pride of West Virginia pageant.
Fans, friends and supporters of the state LGBT community each paid $10 to attend the Official Miss Pride of West Virginia pageant held at the WVSU Capital Center Theater in Charleston Friday night.
One thing that can always be said about the state Pride celebration is that they put on one hell of a drag show! This year was no exception. The crowd was awed by the finest in female illusion entertainment, but at the end of the night, there can be only one winner (or so we thought).
WVAS QUEER NEWS's own Martina Dezarea was announced as the winner and crowned before an enthusiastic audience as Miss Rainbow Pride of West Virginia 2008, a title Dezarea also won five years earlier.
Unable to attend the event in person, I stopped by the local gay.com chat room later Friday night to catch the unofficial buzz of the contest from the guys in the chat. Most everyone was in agreement that the correct winner was crowned. Actually, there was no one that voiced any other opinion. According to sources, Martina's talent was simply unbeatable. I sent a congratulations message to Martina on MySpace.com and went to bed.
On Sunday I received an email from the Board of Directors of the Rainbow Pride of West Virginia committee. Below is a copy of the unedited email.
Dear Members of Pride and Friends of the Community,
On Saturday May 31, 2008 at 4:00 PM a error in the scoring of the 2008 Miss Pride Pageant was reported to Charlie Rouse, the Chairman of Rainbow Pride of West Virginia. Upon receipt of the information the Chairman called an emergency meeting to determine the accuracy of the scores of the Miss Pride of West Virginia Pageant. That meeting was held at 5:30PM on May 31, 2008.
Upon a manual audit of the scores and examination of the spreadsheet software used to tabulate the results of the May 30th pageant the corrected tabulation determined Jessica Jade as the winner, Stephanie Michelle Williams as the first runner up and Martina Dezaera as the second runner up. The audit was conducted by Kevin Tucker, Charlie Rouse, and Casie McGee in front of the eight board members in attendance.
During the auditing process it was discovered there was an error in the formula on the spreadsheet used to tabulate the results.
After lengthy discussion and consultation with Jessica, and Martina the board made and passed a motion to allow the top three winners to accept a shared title as the 2008 Miss Pride of West Virginia.
This decision was not reached lightly and Rainbow Pride of West Virginia hopes the decision will bring unity in the drag community and closure to this serious error in tabulation.
Jessica, Stephanie and Martina have all agreed to work hard with their shared title. All three will divide the prize money awarded to Miss Pride. Each winner will perform three benefits to help Rainbow Pride of West Virginia in fulfilling its mission to the GLBT community in West Virginia
We the Board of Directors of Rainbow Pride of West Virginia apologize to the community for the error that occurred at the Miss Pride of West Virginia 2008 Pageant. We assure you that we are endeavoring to restore your trust in us as an organization that works hard to better the community.
OK, "so they crowned the wrong queen, mistakes happen." Yes they do. However, this same committee also was under fire for "questionable" procedures in the election of officers earlier this year and again for a "clerical error" during the Power of One Award nominations.
The committee operates in full or in part on funding and private donations by the local community through admission charges to PRIDE events and other fundraising efforts throughout the year. The committee was formed to represent the entire GLBT community, but in recent years it has become very clichish and is controlled completely by a handful of "authority obsessed" individuals. The only real effort for a membership drive is during the election of officers to increase votes for particular candidates.
I personally became frustrated with the antics of the members of this committee after attending only three meetings this year. The meetings were a constant battle for control between board members and if it was drama and backbiting that you were looking for then this was the place to find it. There was no unity. There were verbal attacks between members and constant chaos during meetings. Tempers flared and there were several threats of resignation at each meeting if certain individuals did not get their way. I found myself watching the time and regretting my decision to lend my energy to this organization. The drama did not end with the adjournment of the meetings, the backbiting continued via telephone calls shortly following the meetings.
There are several questions that surface regarding this latest controversy or "scoring error". First of all, why were the spreadsheets not tested ahead of time? Who designed them and how long have they been using them? Does this suggest that previous winners may not have been accurate as well? Why did it take so long to find the errors?
I chatted with Martina Desarea briefly to get her reaction this week. She was surprisingly calm, although she admitted she was a bit embarrassed. "Being crowned is 80 percent of the glory of winning a title", she tells WVQN. However, she has maintained her dignity and continues to wear the crown with genuine respect for the title. She speaks highly of her fellow contestants and is honored to have done as well as she did. But, should there be more than one winner? If Jessica Jade is the true winner, then how fair is it for her to share the title with two others? How fair is it to crown another winner and then ask for the crown back? Where does this leave Stephanie Michelle, who was determined the 1st runner-up? This pageant was embarrassing to anyone involved with it. These performers have offered their energy, talents and reputations to the cause. They are all victims here. Who should be held accountable?
According to the email from the Board of Directors, the Pride committee will now profit from their mistake by requesting that each of the three winners will now host three fundraiser events for the committee. This after they were asked to split the prize money three ways.
We decided to let the members of the community speak for themselves regarding this matter. Here are several statements of individuals of the LGBT community:
"I believe that the true winner was crowned. I think that once you have received a title you cannot take it away. While I do feel sorry for the true winner. I guess the two should share it, but I do not believe you take it from the person already crowned and humiliate her."
Wes (deliveryboy4u2@yahoo.com)
Amanda Love states that after the results, confusion and embarrassment she feels she will not be involved until they become more professional again. "All of the girls worked so hard and I was embarrassed to be associated with it. If we do not have just one pride winner we will be the laughing stock of the US."
Robert Sheets (Owner of The Taproom, and community leader--"There should always be two people tabulating any contest. So that there are some checks and balances. I had a contest where it took an extremely long time to tabulate and the score was so close that I made them go back and recheck everything before we announced the winner. This was in a rented public facility where we had to pay overtime for being there so long. I also had a contest where out of a possible 5,000 points, between the top three contestants there was only 100 points difference.
When doing a contest, you need to be prepared to make sure that there is NO question about the tabulation of scores. They also need to be given to every contestant and the judges should be made available to respond to contestants."
Roger Legg, --Owner of Trax Nightclub--"Pride has been going down hill for three years and this year I feel that it is going to be the biggest mess yet."
Larry Grimm--"Will the real Miss Pride 2008 please stand up."
*These are the opinions and statements from individual community members. They are not necessarily the opinions of the entire community or this publication.
"Overcoming controversy and rectifying mistakes is not an easy process, however, those involved in the leadership of this organization and the planning of these events should consider their purpose and the people they represent. Mistakes are our best teachers; learn from them and never forget them, but do not let them dim your aspirations for the future"--Jim Lawson, Speak Out reporter for WVAS QUEER NEWS.
Peace, forgiveness and brotherly love will one day bind us as a real community.
The Third of Three, Ms Jessica Jade.
Martina Desarae and Stephanie Michelle Williams (two of the three declared winners of Miss Pride 2008. )
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