Drag

 July 2, 2024

B suggests “Christmas Is a Drag” for our holiday show, writing: 

We would like to partner with the local drag community to weave our own tale of Music, social injustice, greed and the holidays reminiscent of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"! Think Drag Queen(s) as the spirits of Holidays past, present or future and what holiday music might correspond with our narrative. We want to keep this one light (mostly) and help make the season's bright.

If the roof were high enough I would jump off it. I have to consider my aversion to Drag. A man dressing as a woman and trying to be as beautiful or as womanly as he can be is lovely and intriguing to me. It’s an homage to women and womanhood. But that’s not what gay men mean when they reference “drag.” They mean gargantuan evening gowns, glitter, lip-synching, alien or reptilian make-up, some cross between Mae West and a Hogarth slattern, braying and obscene. I do not understand what part this plays in gay aspiration. I do not know what message it sends about women, except for the most virulent contempt. The best defense I get is “It’s fun.” Maybe it is for those who do it. To me, being asked to participate in a drag show, or even witness one, is like requiring a Black man to join a minstrel show.