By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The Massena Neighborhood Center is refusing to accept a donation from the proceeds of a Friday night drag show in Massena.

A Neighborhood Center official says it is due to what they believe to be the show’s sexually explicit content.

But one of the show’s organizers, Massena native Michael Cameron, who performs female impersonation under the name Amber Skyy, says the show is mainly cross-dressed men and women lip-syncing songs with comedy sprinkled in.

“We didn’t feel it was appropriate. We deal with a lot of families,” said St. Lawrence County Community Development Program Executive Director Norma Carey. She said that the performers’ sexual orientation didn’t factor in.

When asked how the source of the donation affects its ability to feed the needy, Carey said “I don’t think it negates the donation. It’s just difficult for an agency like ours to make that quantum leap to accept a donation from something sexual.

“As a Neighborhood Center, we deal with all kinds of individuals. We appreciate the diversity and want people to live their own lives,” Carey said.

Skyy paints a different picture of the show’s content.

“A bunch of guys transform into women, we get up on stage and there’s some lip syncing,” she said, adding that there are some women who dress as men and perform male roles.

Skyy said that she approached Massena Neighborhood Center director Elaine Eggleston last month and said that the drag show’s organizers wanted to donate cash proceeds and non-perishable food donations to the Neighborhood Center, but that Eggleston had to consult her board first.

“Even though she said she loved the idea, the board members decided because of the sexuality involved, the board members decided not to accept the donation,” Skyy said.

Prior to refusing comment, Eggleston said the center isn’t governed by a board.

“There hasn’t been a board” for several years, she said.

Carey says she isn’t the one who made the call. She said Eggleston decided to turn down the donation. Eggleston initially refused to comment.

“I have heard about it and I have no comment,” Eggleston initially said on Tuesday afternoon.

She later confirmed that she decided to refuse the donation.

“Yes, I had consulted with another person,” she said. She refused to identify the person, except to say that they are not an official with either the Massena Neighborhood Center or the St. Lawrence County Community Development Program.

Regardless of Eggleston’s decision, Carey says she would have supported turning the donation down.

Carey said Eggleston did an internet search for Skyy, and it came back with “sexually explicit photos, with breasts hanging out.”

Skyy says that she isn’t the only one out there under the name Amber Skyy.

“There’s three or four porn stars with the same name, same spelling,” she said. “If you Google Amber Skyy, you’re going to get porn stars, all kinds of things.”

Carey said she wasn’t certain if Eggelston verified that the person she found in the search is the same one helping organize the show in Massena.

“I don’t know the answer,” she said.

Eggleston said she verified that the person she saw was Amber Skyy, but didn’t have a copy of what she saw or a link to the site.

When asked if the St. Lawrence County CDP is doing well enough with holiday donations that they are in a position to refuse, she said “I don’t think we are.”

Skyy, a Massena native now living in Watertown, has been performing drag shows since 2001 and in many cases organizes them to benefit a charitable cause, including March of Dimes, the Juvenile Diabetes Association and Children’s Miracle Network. Last year, Skyy organized a drag show in Massena to help the family of a child who died, Allison Plourde.

“Because of the professionalism and the joy we bring, I’ve had people say ‘can you do anything for us?’” Skyy said.

This incident won’t deter her and her colleagues from hosting future shows in Massena.

“One bad apple doesn’t ruin the whole bunch in my book,” Skyy said. “It will not hinder what I do because I enjoy giving back to the community.”

And all is not lost. Skyy said St. Vincent de Paul will accept the proceeds of Friday's show.

As word of the Neighborhood Center’s refusing the donation gets around town by word of mouth and social media, Skyy says she has received overwhelming support.

“I haven’t had any negative responses,” she said.