Jun 27, 2003  |  By: BRYAN ANDERTON  | COMMENTS     

Chris Dyer, the activist behind the drag persona Cookie Buffet, wants people to know one thing.

“I don't do Cookie all the time,” says Dyer, 33.

But if people get caught up in the illusion, it’s probably not their fault. After all, Dyer has been appearing as Cookie for eight years, and has used his alter ego to raise money and awareness for many gay causes.

Those who know Dyer only as Cookie, though, are only seeing a small portion of the man. He also founded the Youth Pride Alliance, sits on D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams’ LGBT Advisory Committee, does outreach for D.C. AIDSWalk, and will soon be launching a new gay resources Web site.

Earlier this month, Dyer was honored as a Capital Pride Hero for his work.

“With Chris, there’s just a lot of dynamic energy and commitment,” said Robert York, director of Capital Pride. “He has done such a great job in so many aspects … He was just one of those people who really stood out.”

Dyer said the idea for Cookie was “a total whim.” He dressed as a nun one year for Halloween, and “loved the attention” he got, so he decided to go dancing one night dressed as Barbara Bush. The rest, as they say, is history.

Dyer began appearing in public — whether it be on dance floors or at poetry readings — as Cookie Buffet.

“It’s a really wild dynamic being a drag queen,” Dyer says. “I never suspected when I first started doing it that it would become so exciting.”

But Dyer wasn’t interested in just using his other half to have a good time. He wanted to make a difference, too. That chance came in October 1995.

At the time, the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League was having financial troubles, so Dyer and other men from the Twenties Group, a local social club, began collecting money for them.

“I was really energized by this idea of helping gay youth,” Dyer says.

He founded the Youth Pride Alliance shortly thereafter and in 1996 the group started planning for the first Youth Pride Day. Unfortunately, that year’s event fell through. In April 1997, “the stars aligned” and the event went off as planned.

Youth Pride Day became an annual event, and now draws several thousand young people every year. But now, the event will go on without Dyer. After stepping down as president of the Youth Pride Alliance two years ago, he organized his last Youth Pride Day this past April.

“In order for me to grow as an activist, and in order for the organization to continue to grow, it is inevitable in all organizations that eventually the founder walks away, and it was just time,” Dyer says. “It's also time for the event to go beyond the ‘Cookie Buffet Youth Pride Day.’ It’s the community’s Youth Pride Day.”

Now, Dyer is focusing his attention on building a gay resources Web site he named PrideYearWide.org. The site, which he hopes to launch by the fall, will feature contact information for gay organizations, a calendar of events, and a place for people to donate money to their favorite gay charities.

trong>Coming out clean
Another cause Dyer is talking candidly about these days is the “devastating” effects drugs and alcohol has on gays and lesbians.

“[Drug and alcohol abuse] has probably done more damage to our community than anything the Christian Coalition could do,” Dyer says.

He speaks from experience. Dyer began using drugs and alcohol when he was 16. He says the feeling, at least at first, was euphoric.

“I felt fabulous,” he says. “But it came down to the fact that I was an egomaniac with an inferiority complex, and alcohol helped me be someone I wasn't.”
But, as time wore on, Dyer says “the booze stopped working.” His friends helped him realize he had a problem, and he made the decision to go into recovery. He has been sober for 9 years and 10 months.

Now, Dyer talks openly about his past experiences, on his Web site and with the media, in the hope that others won’t travel the same path he did.

“I don’t have all the answers; I don’t claim to be able to walk on water,” Dyer says. “But ...