Hundreds of students flocked Friday to watch men in wigs, high heels and fishnet hose dance outside the Kansas Union.

The popular Brown Bag Drag show brought together drag queens, gay and straight students, and protesters as part of the annual Pride Week.

“I skipped class so I could see it. I figured it was about time,” said Nicole Mohlman, a Lawrence junior who was watching her first drag show. “I think it’s great students are so accepting.”

The show’s master of ceremonies was Flo, a well-known Kansas City drag queen. He led students in making obscene gestures to the eight anti-gay protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka who were across the street holding signs  including one that said “Gayhawks.”

“Don’t you think the lady holding the Gayhawks sign couldn’t have picked a better outfit,” Flo teased. “She wore her best sweatsuit today.”

At Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave., the tone was more serious. About 50 students from 10 universities gathered for the Big 12 Gay Conference.

At one session Friday morning, participants talked about the need for gay, bisexual and transsexual people to work for a common goal.

“We have to stop being afraid of our own diversity and alienating people for who they are,” said Ashley Cunningham, a student at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Mo.

Cammie McIver, a junior at Kansas State University, said she was especially interested in sessions on religion and drug and alcohol problems within the gay community.

She said Kansas State isn’t always an easy place to be gay.

“It’s not that it isn’t accepting,” she said. “At K-State, people look like the typical frat boy or the typical sorority girl. Even in Lawrence people get strange looks.”

Laurie Sisk, a West Mineral graduate student in journalism at KU and conference organizer, said the conference will continue next year.