Ricky Carter straps on his size 14 heels and steps into the spotlight. With his bright-red lipstick, voluminous hair and accentuated curves, he is ready to stun the audience.
Tonight he is Sunset Marmalade.
It’s a Wednesday night and Gainesville’s popular gay bar, University Club, is filled with anticipation. Everyone is ready for a show.
Carter, 20, an English major at UF, has been watching his competition through a tiny window backstage.
Men in wigs, heels and heavy makeup are shimmying, shaking and grinding with audience members for tips. They all want to be the better woman.
Sunset Marmalade is the last drag queen to perform in the competition because she narrowly lost in last week’s contest. She struts onto the stage as Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” blares from the speakers. Her lips match the lyrics perfectly.
Wearing a patterned tube top, black leggings and thigh-high black boots, she walks into the audience as they wave their tips at her. But it’s not the look that captivates the audience.
It’s the in-your-face look of confidence and happiness on her face. She is relaxed, rehearsed and ready to win.
When the competitors line back up, Sunset Marmalade receives 20 votes and advances to the final round. In the final round, a song is chosen at random, and the competitor has to perform the song to the best of his or her ability.
Sunset’s deciding song was “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls. Ridiculed for liking the Spice Girls in middle school, the song helped her win week six of the Amateur Talent Drag Race competition.
Fans and friends rushed to the stage to hug and congratulate Sunset on her win.
“Winning made me feel very accomplished,” Carter said after the show. “I put my heart and soul into my performances. Winning solidified that I was born to perform.”
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Born March 25, 1990, Carter said that he had always known he was different. From his high-pitched voice to his graceful mannerisms, Carter exudes feminism. Not to mention his flat-ironed hair and eyeliner eyes.
Carter lost his mother at the age of 8 to a combination of heart disease, lung disease and complications from surgery. He said that losing him mom made him discover a personality.
“When you learn about life, you get a personality out of it,” Carter said. “There are those who mope around and just accept what life has given then. But I choose to find happiness out of it.”
In middle school, Carter began to recognize that he was gay. He liked the Spice Girls and Britney Spears.
“Simply, I’m a gay male,” he said. “But if you want an extended explanation, a lot of times I consider myself a gendered-queer gay drag queen.”
He had been dating girls, but he discovered that his attraction for them was actually a form of admiration.
“I realized I wanted to be like girls, not be with girls,” he said.
Carter began to tell people about his sexuality when he was 13, but he said that no one was surprised.
In 2009, his father started dating again. Carter confronted his father about the situation, which led to the discussion about Carter’s sexuality.
“What about you?” his father asked him. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
Carter replied, “Either you’re delusional, or you’re playing stupid.”
“Why?” his father asked. “Is it because you don’t like girls?”
Carter’s father said he had known about his son’s sexuality for a year, but Carter believes it was longer. After all, it was his father who bought him his first drag outfit.
“I don’t remember him saying anything negative about it,” Carter recalled. “It was more of a ‘do what you want to do’ kind of thing.”
Kyrra Williams, 22, Carter’s best friend of seven years, said that Carter and his father have become closer since Carter’s coming out.
“They call each other ‘best bitches,’” Williams said. “They text all the time, and they spend a lot of time together.”
Carter saw his first drag performance in his hometown of Hollywood, Fla. He was inspired by the comedy of the show, and he loved the audience’s response.
“I thought to myself, ‘It would be so fantastic if I got the response she got.’ And I thought to myself, ‘I could do better than her,’” he said.
At the age of 13, Carter made an impressive decision. He approached the director of the show and told her he wanted to do drag.
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Waiting backstage before a show is extremely nerve-wracking for Carter. He worries about his audience. Will they like his hair? Will they like his makeup? Will they like his song choice?
“A lot of times when I get on that stage and that spotlight hits me, it doesn’t matter,” Carter said. “All that goes away and I just feel something come over me.”
Carter described Sunset Marmalade as a big, voluptuous and beautiful woman.
Sunset sometimes wears wigs, but Carter has been growing out his hair and flat-ironing it for shows. Carter has been teaching himself how to apply makeup over the years with the help of YouTube tutorials.
“I learned how to create contours, make my nose look thinner and give myself higher cheekbones,” Carter said. “The first time I did my makeup I looked like a clown, but I’m getting a lot better.”
He has trouble shopping for his look because the market for bigger, trendy clothing is very narrow. Carter buys things in darker colors and shirts with sleeves to slim his body. Carter has to be creative—sometimes a shirt two sizes too small can be cut and used a different way.
Sunset’s persona is a funny, smart, bubbly and personable, according to Carter. She’s extremely friendly, and she loves to compliment others. Sunset loves to be sexy but glamorous at the same time. She’s a woman who isn’t afraid to be herself.
Carter loves to perform, and drag lets him connect with an audience. He enjoys making people happy, and when the crowd chants Sunset’s name, it can’t get any better.
“He seems happy when he performs,” Williams said. “I think it’s the happiest that I ever do see him. It’s his time to shine and I think that’s where he likes to be–in the limelight.”
Carter says he’s a lot more confident as Sunset, and that he even gets hit on more in drag. But that doesn’t mean he’s living a double life.
“Sunset is very much a part of me,” Carter explains. “Sometimes when I’m not in drag, I’ll feel her essence, and I’ll feel her out.”
Carter doesn’t get paid for his performances, but he does make tips. He donates every cent he makes to organizations and charities. When PSU held their annual Pride Struts Its Stuff drag show, Carter earned $74 in tips.
“Before the show, I said I was going to donate to Haiti,” Carter says. “That would’ve been the price of a dress or food for a week, but I definitely felt for the people of Haiti. And I still feel for them.”
Carter prefers to donate to UF’s Pride Student Union events. He is the new PSU president and was the LGBTQ cabinet director in Student Government. He considers himself a community activist.
Carter said that he sees himself doing drag for as long as possible. He is specializing in film and media studies in the hopes of becoming an actor.
“I was told by someone that I had a gift and that I was inspiring,” Carter said. “I hope to achieve a point where I do inspire others.”
He knows that he won’t ever stop performing.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a crowd of one person or 50,000 people, I’ll put on a show for them.”