.    Closet Ball 2009, the Reno gay community's second oldest charity event crowned Closet Ball Queen Vanity Case and Closet Ball King Landin Enu before a crowd which size had not been seen for a long time locally.
       The room has been set based on previous attendance of the past few years to Closet Ball, but this year at the Grand Sierra Resort, it was standing room only as four male contestants and three female contestants competed in the annual fund raiser hosted by Divas on the Run.
         Imperial Crown Princess Terry Moll and Chris Chilton had been at the fund raiser where it began in San Fernando Valley. "We can do this!", Terry said and the rest is history. Closet Ball is the most widely used fund raiser amongst the gay community which was originated by Empress Missy. Closet Ball or Turnabout is where a man becomes a women and a woman becomes a man.
         "It's all in fun!" Empress Jack-E who has produced and hosted the local event for two decades, said.
          A panel of judges scores each contestant on stage presence, poise and transformation (the change from one sex to the other). This years judges included: Empress II Rusty, Pam Dupree, Closet Ball Queen 1993 Gary Lee, Wendy Richard, Emperor XI of Las Vegas Chris Reynolds; Empress XI of Las Vegas Ginger Grant, Renee Rance and Jarre Payne.
 
Pictured here are the contestants for 2009 (above) is Emperor Dan Surreal Foxx who by proclamation must do drag once during his reign and Closet Ball is the traditional time

       There are rules for Closet Ball.  You must be 21; You must not have done serious drag before (except Halloween) and you must have fun!.   The winners don't have to do anything during the year other than return the following year to step down. And the transformation must take place in an hour.
      There were male contestants: Justin, Mark, Tom Collins, and Gib Hall. There were three female contestants: Sophie (co-owner of the Five Star Saloon),  Christina and Justine.

A Rainbow Place, Community Center
has no funding and closes it doors
        A Rainbow Place, the Northern Nevada gay and Lesbian community center financially has struggled since its inception. When it opened it could not even afford the rent on the first office space they rented.  Today financial insolvent the organization is formally disbanding and offering no services other that the counseling it has a grant for through April 2009.
       Ben Felix and a small group of local residents came together to create the resource center for local gays and lesbians, for those questioning, for teenage gays as a drop in center and offered other services as the community needed.  Felix served as the organizations executive director until about two years ago when the organization again ran into serious financial troubles.
      The Board at the time voted to cut all paid position and operate the organization as a volunteer group. Still there were no financial resources other than grants from the state of Nevada for AIDS/HIV testing and counseling, mental health counseling and a couple of other small programs.
      The last office space for the center was located at the end of Vassar Street  near the airport far from the downtown location Felix said the center should have to be a presence in the community. It had been located five blocks from the river when it was at 33 St. Lawrence for several years.

One Big Last Hurrah--Reflections closed
           Reflections Bar is no more.  It officially closed on Friday January 30 after being open for the past three years. The property was sold by the owners and Reflection went out with a bang with its closing party on the 30th.
      Closing night saw the bar packed for one final dance and hurrah. Many turned out to be part of the final night.
        Reno has seen the passing of Bad Dolly's, The Ice House, Shouts, Bar West, and The Quest.  Reno, a city of just under 300,000, presently has seven gay bars.  It has had as many as 10 at one time. Reports from across the country question whether gay bars still have a place as gays and lesbians are being accepted by society.
        Reflection was a dance club during its short history, It was operated by KD and NB Link LLC. Reflection was the sister property to the Patio.
        The property was sold to someone from out of state and will become a straight bar. 
   

     

and the winners are: Vanity Case and Landin Enu for Reno's Closet Ball 2009
Channel, Charity, Hailey, and Chastity (members of Divas on the Run) bring the house down with a gospel number.


                    
The transformation takes place in just one hour. Here two contestants change sexes through the talents of their drag queen sponsor.

Local group creates Reno Sisterhood
         A group a seven men have gotten together to create Reno's newest organization, Reno's Biggest Little Sister and hope to soon be associated with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the irreverent witty fund raising street theatre group who dress in nuns regalia and wimples with white face raising fund for various charities.
           The group is not seeking members at present while it is in organization.  They hope to have the final draft of by-laws and policies and procedures submitted to the Mother House in San Francisco by April or May and re-open membership.  It takes about three years to go from a novice to a full member in the organization.