Appalachian State students raised money with drag shows to fund student ID name changes
Owen Ward, "Molly Pocket," and Ben Negin, "Benadryl," started the Boone Barbies drag group last year. Since then, they've worked to raise money with Lily's Snack Bar to cover the costs of students looking to change the name on their Appalachian State University ID card. Photo courtesy of Ben Negin.
A few months ago, it would cost an Appalachian State University student $25 to receive a new school ID card, updated with their chosen name.
It wasn’t until October of last year that name changes were even an option for students.
That’s something Ben Negin, a junior at the college, worked to change through Student Government.
“Before last year, on class rosters, on your diploma at graduation, your AppCard, a lot of really important places, you couldn't display a safe name,” Negin said.
That means some students encountered a name they didn’t identify with several times a day, like when they used their ID card to buy food, go in and out of buildings, and go to class.
“On average, a student has three to six classes per semester,” Negin said. “So that's that many opportunities to be called a dead name in front of an entire group of people.”
After working with the university to allow name changes, Negin began looking for a funding source to make the cards free.
Enter the Boone Barbies. Negin, who goes by Benadryl in drag, started the group last year with Owen Ward, a senior at App State, whose drag name is Molly Pocket.
They’ve put on eight shows so far at Lily’s Snack Bar, a restaurant Negin says is the “unofficial gay bar of Boone.”
They were able to raise $450 which they say was matched by their school for a total of $900.
Ward says this funding could be life-changing for students.
“I can't express how absolutely easy and how absolutely important it is to refer to somebody as a name that they identify with,” Ward said. “And I think that nonbinary people, trans people, people under that umbrella, all they want to be is recognized and respected and identified.”
The Boone Barbies Instagram account has already received messages from students saying they’ve been able to tap into the fund to update their ID cards, Ward says. Information about how to update the AppCard is available on their page.
A message from the Chief Diversity Officer Jamie Parson published on Aug. 24, 2022, states that chosen first name options are also now available for App State employees.
Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.
300x250 Ad
300x250 Ad