T.H.E. Night: Race to the Runway

Category is: Collective Care

For full event details and tickets, visit the event page here.

The emcee calls the category. The floor opens. And for one night, our community walks for something bigger than a trophy.

Every day, Charlotte Trans Health shows up for our community with care, with dignity, and without conditions. T.H.E. Night is where our community shows up for itself: one room, one runway, and a whole lot of heart, all in service of keeping that care accessible to everyone who needs it. Trans Health is for Everyone!

T.H.E. Race to the Runway is our friendly-competition fundraiser: performance teams of experienced trans and gender-diverse performers mentoring CTH healthcare providers for their drag debuts, go head-to-head all night, not just on stage, but on the leaderboard. Every dollar raised in each team's name pushes them further ahead in the race, and every dollar raised for Charlotte Trans Health goes further for our community: covering the cost of a first appointment with an affirming provider, therapy to navigate the hard days, or simply the reassurance that someone has your back.

This year the runway will open with real house ballroom -- the culture born from Black and Latine trans and queer communities, built on houses, categories, and a judges' panel calling tens across the board. This isn't formal ballroom dance; it's the walking, voguing, and realness categories of ballroom scene culture, performed by the community that keeps that tradition alive. Alongside it, our performance teams bring their own categories to the floor, and every one of them is competing on the leaderboard as much as on the stage.

The category for T.H.E. Night and that matters all year is the same: Collective Care. Every team that performs, every dollar raised in someone's name is a vote for a community that takes care of its own.

Here's how the race works: each team has its own fundraising page and its own circle of supporters. Friends, family, and fans donate directly to their favorite team, watch the leaderboard move in real time, and show up on T.H.E. Night to see who takes the runway — and the win. It's part talent show, part fundraising sprint, and entirely about community.

There's more to T.H.E. Night than the performances. Our silent auction puts donated goods, experiences, and one-of-a-kind items from local businesses and supporters up for grabs, with every winning bid going straight back into the work. Bid high, bid often, and take home something great while you do it.

Why it matters

Trans and gender-diverse people in Charlotte face real, everyday barriers to care — barriers that shouldn't exist, and that Charlotte Trans Health works every day to break down. T.H.E. Night turns that work into a party: a night where joy and generosity share the same stage, where competition is just an excuse to give a little more, and where every ticket, donation, and winning bid adds up to real support for real people.

How you can be part of it

Back a team. Find your favorite performers on the leaderboard and help push them into the lead.
Attend T.H.E. Night. Buy a ticket or get a sponsorship and bring your people out to cheer.
Bid on the auction. Come ready to take home something special, and know every bid is a donation.
Just give. Not picking a side? A general gift to Charlotte Trans Health powers everything T.H.E. Night stands for.

However you show up, you're helping build a runway our community can walk down with pride, all year long.

See you at T.H.E. Night. Category is: Collective Care. May the best team win, and may our community win the most.

T.H.E. Night 2026 - Race to the Runway & Silent Auction

Team Leaderboard

Team Members