Things should get wild Friday at a dance at the Graduate Student Association lounge.

The Queers Gone Wild 2004 dance will be held tonight at the Graduate Student Association Lounge above the MCC Theater from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The entire building will be converted into a nightclub for the evening, complete with projectors flashing images on the walls, dancing, dance poles and platforms, an outdoor patio and lounge areas furnished with couches. Event host Friendly Undergraduate Queers in It Together (FUQIT) Tickets will be selling the tickets for $2 outside of the UCen prior to the event, and $5 at the door. The event, which is being held for the first time, serves as the kickoff for Queer Pride Week, which begins April 26.

Associated Students Queer Commission and Queer Student Union (QSU) are cosponsoring the event. A.S. Off-Campus Rep. Lance Tackett said everyone is encouraged to attend, regardless of sexual orientation. He said the party will be a non-alcoholic event, and will serve as an alternative to the I.V. party scene.

FUQIT co-chair Adryan Caron said the event is intended to give students a chance to forget their differences for a night and just have fun.

“Every day the queer community is reminded that they are queer, that they stand out. For one night, we’re all the same, gay or straight. We’re just people,” Caron said.

Caron said the dance is Mardi Gras-themed, but all attire will be accepted.

“Wear exotic makeup, wild animalistic hair and lots of perfume or cologne,” Caron said.

DJ Marshall Higa will play popular dance, hip hop, salsa and music from various other cultures and food and prizes will be given away. Tackett said that over 3,000 packages of free lubricant will be available along with condoms and Mardi Gras beads.

Tackett said the event may occur quarterly, depending on the success of tonight’s dance.

FUQIT is the newest of the three sponsoring organizations, having only been in operation for four weeks. FUQIT co-chair and co-founder Nick Robertson, a freshman dramatic arts major, said FUQIT was founded with the goal of becoming a social outlet for the queer community at UCSB, and that he was pleased to get a chance to cooperate with the other campus queer organizations.

“FUQIT is proud to finally be associated with the likes of QSU and Queer Comm,” Robertson said.

Caron said he was looking forward to the event, and that he hoped to see a big turnout.

“I seriously wouldn’t push this event so hard if it were going to blow,” Caron said. “This dance is going to rock, and you fucking know it.”