Nice Jewish Boy Noah Van Gilder Wins Queer Pageant
The annual NJB+ pageant celebrates queer Jewish identity in an afternoon of enjoyably strange and amusing entertainment.
In the end, a song about birdwatching and a cape helped Noah Van Gilder clinch the title in the 2024 NJB+ Pageant, held on Sunday, August 4, at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in downtown Washington, D.C.
Van Gilder got a standing ovation from the audience, who were enthralled and delighted by the avid birdwatcher’s performance of “Birds,” a parody song set to the tune of Lizzo’s “Boys.”
The Washingtonian began the number clad in birdwatcher gear, complete with binoculars and a bucket hat. He danced around the stage, singing and rapping as images of various types of birds appeared behind him. As the number continued, he stripped out of the birdwatching gear and triumphantly revealed a multicolored cape designed to look like peacock feathers.
“I wanted to feature my love of birds and other wildlife,” the 40-year-old told Metro Weekly following his win. “It’s probably one of my oldest passions. So, I was thinking, how do you take that, and do it in a pageant format, where you’re trying to put on a show, you’re trying to maybe impress people a little bit. And this was the best I could think of.”
Following the announcement of Van Gilder’s win, he was surrounded by his fellow competitors and an array of past pageant winners and runners-up, who hoisted the titleholder — seated in a chair, clad in a white sash and a gold plastic crown — into the air, in a celebration reminiscent of the hora, a traditional Jewish wedding dance.
Contestants in the pageant are required to perform a group dance number, show off a talent, and answer questions from a panel of judges to prove they are prototypical “Nice Jewish Boys” (or the femme or nonbinary equivalent).
The event began with a video parodying a “Housewives” reality franchise and remarks by the host, local drag phenom Vagenesis. The pageant’s group number featured Van Gilder and his fellow contestants — Anthony Musa, Spencer Leibow, and Benjamin Rosenthal — clad in rainbow-colored workout clothes and pink yarmulkes, dancing to Chappell Roan’s song “HOT TO GO!”
Musa recounted how the group held a weekly practice leading up to the pageant, bonding with each other and even buying each other shoes and outfit pieces for the opening number.
A State Department employee who gave a short Powerpoint presentation introducing the audience to his love for the country, people, food, and language of Kazakhstan, had considered doing a musical number for his talent, but found himself lacking in that department.
“I’ve tried to sing before, and it’s not good,” said the 32-year-old. “So I don’t think anyone needed to suffer through that.”
Benjamin Rosenthal, a 27-year-old who moved to D.C. from Columbus, Ohio, six months ago, said that becoming involved with NJB+ DC socially, particularly participating in the pageant, has helped him make new friends and acclimate to a new city.
Rosenthal, whose talent portion included telling comical stories about the three times he “nearly died,” said he liked the idea that pageant raises money for a worthy cause or organization. Proceeds from this year’s event benefitted the DC LGBTQ+ Community Center, currently renovating a new, larger space in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood.
Rosenthal had one particularly memorable moment when he pushed back against a judge who asked him what constituted the “gayest” Jewish holiday — but told him he could not pick Purim.
“I already had my answer, and she said, ‘Don’t do Purim,’ and I was like, ‘Girl, that’s the gayest holiday.’ Purim was always my favorite holiday. And not only that, but it’s just a very significant holiday.”
Perhaps Van Gilder’s biggest competition was 26-year-old graduate student Spencer Leibow, the pageant’s runner-up. Leibow’s dance moves were the most on-beat in the group number, and the epidemiology major had many audience members singing along as he delivered a rendition of Kelly Clarkson’s 2005 hit “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” complete with vocal riffs and runs, harmonies, and a swelling high note at the song’s climax.
“I was in a bunch of choirs and a cappella groups growing up, and I wanted to sing something,” he said. “I had a moment where I was like, should I sing something I wrote, or something more obscure? But I felt as though it would be a better move to sing something that everyone can sing along with and enjoy. I think I made the right call.”
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