GOOD GIRLS Queens’ calendar ain’t no drag BY BILL RODRIGUEZ

Well, it’s about time. The party this Sunday, September 25, at Diesel isn’t coming soon enough for releasing Legends! — a Hollywood glamour shot calendar featuring 11 local drag queens.

Rhode Island isn’t Dubuque, after all (although even in America’s heartland, gays, lesbians and the transgendered are meeting greater acceptance). But Li’l Rhody has a special responsibility, having 90 percent more gays and lesbians per capita than the national median. That Providence has an openly gay mayor — and that this was no big deal to most voters — should make the Legends! fundraising calendar sell like hotcakes, whether or not purchasers get the pun.

The 16-month, slickly printed calendar is quite professionally done.

Sabrina Blaze sparkles in sequins and dazzling smile as Carol Channing; Taya Houston looks lovely with white orchid and pearls as Billie Holiday; BB Hayes reprises Marilyn Monroe, white dress billowing over a hot-air grate; Jade Love glowers forth as Bette Davis in the movie poster for Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?; and so on. The price is $20, with all proceeds going to local charities through the nonprofit Imperial Court of Rhode Island, which was established for such purposes in 1992. Some 60 businesses and individuals donated to cover production costs. For $50, you can get a special limited edition "signed by the girls," with a group poster and other goodies thrown in.

As the calendar’s mission statement declares, its purpose is "1) To help those in the community who are in need of our assistance." And "2) To have fun & look good doing it!"

The project’s two creators — event planner Mark McClure and fund-raiser Erich Haslehurst (in the calendar posing as Marlene Dietrich) — have worked on it full-time all summer. They recruited their roommate, PhotoShop whiz Derek Cruz, to help "make it look gorgeous," as McClure puts it.

Twenty-something best friends McClure and Haslehurst had been joking about creating such a calendar for a couple of years. Once they announced the project, there was a stiletto-heeled stampede. "All the girls were into it — wicked into it — because everybody had wanted to do it for years, but no one had the time or drive, because it was a lot of work."

Admission to the September 25 party — on Washington Street, where the Strand used to be — is $10. Doors open at 7 for cocktails, with the show starting after 8. Afterward the calendar will be available at Oop!, Books On the Square, and online at the Imperial Court’s Web site, www.icriprov.org.