The recent closure of Club Sapien left a void for many in our community that has been difficult to fill. Fortunately,  a multitude of community organizations have started joining forces and sharing ideas to bring Calgary’s LGBTQA community some new and improved opportunities to come out and enjoy yourselves. Queers on Campus’s Gender Bender, coming up Friday March 23rd, is one such opportunity.

Gender Bender is a unique and fun event that allows you to play with gender in your own, personal way. The event takes place at the always gracious Den/Black Lounge at the University of Calgary and promises to be a great way to spend your Friday night. Kings, Queens, and everything in between will be donning their best top hats and gowns as they put on a fabulous show. In between and after the shows, DJ Jay Fraid and DJ Goldstar will keep you dancing.

Zac Wierzbicki, one of the co-chairs of Queers on Campus, the organizer of this year’s Gender Bender is extremely excited about the event. "This year is a little different than it has been in the past, in that we are collaborating with a number of groups to put the event on. Apollo and ARGRA have both been really helpful with agreeing to post information about Gender Bender. The VP of ARGRA actually helped us secure the DJ’s. We are also being supported by Ming, Divine, and GayCalgary Magazine."

"Also new this year, we are partnering with Pride Calgary to hold a joint event as the official Pride Calgary Half Way to Pride Event."

Doug Hass, Communications Director for Pride Calgary, loves the collaborative effort. "To celebrate the half-way mark to Pride, we are thrilled to team up with the U of C and their Gender Bender event. By partnering up with various organizations and schools around the city, we are able to reach an audience that we have yet to tap and introduce them to Pride and all we have to offer." Pride will be selling all things rainbow at the event, so make sure to check out their table.

The Miscellaneous Youth Network will be supplying quite a few entertainers, as well as emceeing the event.

All proceeds go towards Queers on Campus. "The organization is a Student’s Union sanctioned club at the University of Calgary," explains Wierzbicki. "As a group of queer students and allies, we work with organization both on and off campus to promote understanding and acceptance of the queer people (queer obviously being used in the sense of an umbrella terms which includes and encompasses all forms of sexual and gender diversity)."

"Some of the money goes towards covering the cost of the event itself; included in that is a donation to Miscellaneous Youth. Overall though, the event is our main fundraiser and we use the money to fund our events over the entire academic year. With about one event per week, the cost begins to add up, but Gender Bender enables us to do these things."

Wierzbicki is excited by the response he has witnessed, and hopes this will mean a packed house.  "I am really looking forward to the event this year. With this being my first year as co-chair, and just the absolute wave of support and interest we have received over the last couple of weeks, the event should be absolutely amazing!"