The House of Galore from Amsterdam
Drag has always been near and dear to my heart. I can remember starting drag at 22 and only just retiring from the arena in 2004. I'll still do the occasional show, or show up full regalia to support the other girls at a show, or just show up as my cute little self to thrown in some doe for the cause. But I still have many , many friends and acquaintances who are queens. I can't imagine the gay community without them. They add such high camp, glamour, and comic relief to a otherwise cookie cutter "cute boys" night out at the club. Not to mention they are hard working for oodles of great causes. Many queens won't mind when asked to do a show for charity, and break in those new 6" heels. Those high heels are why I have muscular legs, I swear! And at the end of the day, if you raised any money for anything, or made someone laugh, it was all worth the hours of getting ready. And to mention it take balls to do drag, even once!!!!
Drag shouldn’t be confused with transvestism, which is very similar, in the sense that involves cross dressing and switching gender roles. Most transvestites do not cross dress to be seen, as drag queens are, but to feel like a woman. Transvestism can also be a sexual fetish, whereas drag rarely is. There were many nights a straight guy would hit on me, to only find out I was a guy and still wanted to have sex....huh, no thanks. There are, however, some men, and women, who like to sleep with drag queens.
Men dressing as women in performance has always been around. In Shakespearean and classical Chinese theatre men would play the parts of women as women would not be permitted to appear on stage. We can see early forms of traditional drag appearing towards the late 1800s and early 20th century.
Julian Eltinge began performing in Broadway shows from the age of 10, appearing as a girl, and by 1910 reached the height of his fame going on a national tour of America and even producing his own magazine. After the two world wars, under Joseph McCartney, national paranoia in America was rife. Anything deemed ‘subversive’ was also deemed a national risk. In the 1950s the US State Department decided that homosexuals were part of these ‘subversive’ groups. The FBI and police kept records of ‘known homosexuals’, and printed their photographs in local papers. Cities performed sweeps of bars and nightclubs to ‘rid’ neighbourhoods of gay people. The wearing of opposite gender clothes were banned, and gay men and women were often publically humiliated, harassed, fired from jobs, jailed or institutionalised in mental hospitals.
Jackie Jackson
Small pockets of activism grew throughout the 1950s and 60s, however the gay rights movement is often though to have begun in 1969 at the Stonewall Bar in New York. It was the only gay bar in New York at that time. It was owned by the Mafia and on June 28th, 1969, the police conducted one of their raids. Raids were common at the time, and if a (gay) women wasn’t wearing at least three items of ‘feminine clothing’, they were arrested. Those in gender opposite clothing were submitted to humiliating ‘gender checking’ and arrested. This raid, however, did not go as planned, and many, particularly the lesbians and drag queens and twinks, began to fight back. Many believe riots were instigated after drag queen Sylvia Rivera threw pennies and quarters at police. Three nights of riots ensued, which included another drag queen, Marsha P. Johnson smashing a police car window with her hand bag.
It was the first time gay people had come together as a community, and the events at Stonewall ignited widespread, worldwide LGBT activism. On the other coast line, one well-known Amerian political activist was José Julio Sarria ,also known under her drag name Empress José I the Widow Norton, who was a drag queen and went on to found the Imperial Court System.
During his performances, he supposedly warned people of police entrapment schemes through his song lyrics. In 1961, he was the first openly gay person to run for public office. He campaigned for San Francisco City supervisor, the same postition that Harvey Milk would win 16 years later. He didn’t win, but came in 9th out of 32, which was significant for the gay community at the time. In 1970 the first ever gay Pride happened. It’s because of these drag queens, and these people, that we have many of the freedoms we enjoy today. Drag has finally come into it's own in the late 80"s and 90's with the like of some high profile queens, and for the most part are being accepted pretty well. And the scene has burst with all types.
Bermuda Triangle
But more on the later. Just remember don't piss off a drag queen! They wear those high heels for a reason.
