MELANIE GRIFFITH AND DOT JONES JOIN BEST IN DRAG SHOW® 2013 AS CELEBRITY JUDGES

Los Angeles, September 23, 2013 – Best in Drag Show® – the outrageous and long-running annual fundraiser for Aid for AIDS – has announced that Academy Award nominee Melanie Griffith and Emmy Award nominee Dot Jones have joined the celebrity judges panel for the show’s 11th anniversary. Best in Drag Show® will be held on October 6, 2013 at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

Griffith and Jones are joining the previously announced Emmy Award winner Holland Taylor (Two and A Half Men), Golden Globe nominee Mireille Enos (The Killing), Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Bellamy Young (Scandal), and Kathy Kinney (The Secret Life of the American Teenager).

Event co-founder Patrick Rush will return to host the show.  Jeffrey Drew, long-time lead star throughout the history of Best In Drag Show®, will once again direct, choreograph and helm the 2013 production.

The 2013 contestants include Sash Carl (Miss California: Beverly Center​),  D'Nez Westmoreland (Miss Michigan: Electra Caprice Riviera), Stephen Molinaro (Miss New Jersey: Vava Fanculo), Mike Cativo (Miss Puerto Rico: Mimi E), Dajuan Powns (Miss Washington DC: Ciera Lyon), and Aron Ross (Miss Wisconsin: Misty O'Portunity).

Best in Drag Show® was originally founded by Alexis Pittman with a small group of friends in his West Hollywood living room in 1989. Then called Battle for the Tiara, the event raised $400, collected from twenty people.  Due to its increasing popularity, the show was moved to subsequently larger venues and has grown into a large and highly-anticipated annual beauty pageant spoof that makes fun of itself, while keeping the focus on giving back to the community.  The current version has run since 2003, and has raised over $3 million for Aid for AIDS, in support of the work of the non-profit throughout Los Angeles County to prevent homelessness and hunger for men, women, children and families with HIV/AIDS.

To purchase tickets, visit: www.bestindragshow.org or call 323-344-4880

About Aid for AIDS

Aid for AIDS was founded in 1983 by a group of friends in the Hollywood gay community to provide at-home care for patients facing the end stages of the disease. Since then, AFA has become Los Angeles County’s premier, non-profit provider of direct financial assistance to those impoverished and disabled by HIV/AIDS.

To provide a robust continuum of care and meet the changing needs of the community, AFA merged with the Serra Project in 2009 to form the Alliance for Housing and Healing which works to prevent homelessness among persons living with HIV/AIDS.  Our mission is to provide the basic necessities of life to men, women, children, and families living with HIV/AIDS through a safety net of essential housing and direct supportive services because housing is healthcare. 92% of all revenue goes directly to client services.  More than 18,000 individuals have received assistance.

For more information visit www.alliancehh.org.