MADDY

I don't just like this queen because we share the same name, but it was the style that took me back to what drag is. Maddy Morphosis definitely ruffled some feathers. And it's also been called upon her skills and ensembles may not have been the best, and her drag was subpar to even be on Drag Race. But I didn't mind it. That is what drag is in most cities and towns, in clubs and bars. Not every queen has big budgets to showcase haute couture, which is the one problem I have with the show. A true queen can put anything together with no budget. It's what us queens used to do. And Maddy had some very cool ideas. And even cooler was that Maddy was the shows first cis gender heterosexual contestant. Her place in the competition has been a hot topic, a lightning rod with some, and many in the gay community believing that straight people should not be featured. But kudos to the drag queen community who have welcomed her with open arms. I sometimes feel drag queens are the communities saving grace. I feel the gay community and the gay activist clamoring for gay safe spaces and protecting the LGBT community from a straight drag queen on a reality show seem to forget about a bill languishing in the Senate, which affects our ACTUAL safe spaces, home and work life from the real discrimination. Let's stop running around hysterical because a straight man is doing drag on a show. I adore her and quickly got a soft spot for her. Maddy is a small-town camp and comedy queen and represented well I thought. Maddy's quirky performances set her apart from the pack and she proved she can perform with the best of them, not to mention beat out tons of other queens vying to even get on the show. Hailing from Arkansas, she draws inspiration from pop culture, art, nostalgia and then flips it on its head, often in crazy and ridiculous ways.

While she may have been a bit dull, and that may have made things worse for her, she did give competent, but unexciting performances, and yes, may have worn some things that felt pedestrian, and barely scraped through a bottom two lip sync, only because her competitor June was a compete mess from the start. At that point it was clear Maddy was not cast alongside her identity as straight, but solely because of it. The show has a very clear top 5 to me already. But I give Maddy the tip of the hat for getting on and having the balls and the open mind to pursue drag as a straight male, and work through his issues with his sexual identity. I find it even cooler that he met his girlfriend in life while doing drag, and she herself is also doing drag by the name Liza the Queen! I would love to see Maddy in another couple years, and I bet she will really bring it. But then again, I love me the hometown queen style.