“I think about how drag literally saved my life.” She choked up talking about the detriment that such laws would cause to young queer people. “I think of all the people back home,” Symone said. That state is one of many where bills targeting trans youth and drag shows are under debate. It’s personal for Symone, who’s from Arkansas originally. According to The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization, 71% of LGBTQ youth and more than 80% of trans and nonbinary youth say that the current political climate is damaging their mental health. The “ugly debates,” Wong said, are taking a toll on LGBTQ youth. Those bills range from efforts to ban doctors from providing medical care for transgender youth, to bans on drag performances, despite drag’s centuries-old history. There are more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills in statehouses across the country, including dozens in Texas, he said. Wong, the moderator, cited some stats from The Trevor Project. Hall compared the glut of discriminatory legislation in the U.S., specifically targeting trans people and drag performers, to global warming. The rising hostility toward drag is dangerous, all the queens agree - but it’s a call to fight. Meeting fans so regularly inspires her to keep being open and honest about her own identity.Īs for their faves on the show’s current 15th season? Gottmik immediately said frontrunner Sasha Colby Hall agreed and also gave props to Houston queen Mistress Isabelle Brooks. “I need to meet everyone and hear every story,” she said. More: At queer-owned Scissor Sisters Hair Show salon, customers find shear star powerĪnd anyone who follows drag knows that meet-and-greets after live shows can be grueling for the touring queens, but Gottmik still relishes them as a way to connect. “Giving a hand wherever you can in your community feels like a serve for me," she said. She knows that other people out there also need the help she’s received, so she sees the “Drag Race” platform as a way to give back. “In my life, it’s not been the easiest road,” Hall said. LGBTQ identities are still underrepresented in media. Gottmik saw the show as an opportunity to be the role model she once needed: “This is my chance to be that person and show the world that drag is for everybody.”Īll the queens take the high-profile visibility that comes with the show seriously. “It’s scary sharing your art in that way.” “For me it was a little scary,” Symone said of entering the super-popular reality competition. And, of course, Wong asked whom they’re rooting for on Season 15 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which airs Friday on MTV. Thursday’s SXSW session addressed the wave of legislation seeking to roll back rights for LGBTQ Americans and that wave's corrosive effect on the mental health of the community they also spent time celebrating the panelists’ love of drag. Tennessee, meanwhile, just passed a law restricting drag performances in public. Three “RuPaul’s Drag Race” stars - Season 12 winner Jaida Essence Hall, Season 13 winner Symone and Season 13 finalist Gottmik - joined The Trevor Project’s Kevin Wong for a panel titled "Don't Be a Drag, Just Be a Queen." SXSW hosted the session as a wide array of discriminatory bills across the country threaten the LGBTQ community, including drag performers.įor example: A few dozen demonstrators gathered that Thursday at the Capitol to protest Texas' Senate Bill 14, which would prohibit children from having certain forms of treatment for gender transitioning, gender reassignment or gender dysphoria and would prohibit the use of public money to provide those procedures and treatments. We can’t be sure, but smart money says that only one South by Southwest session continued into a nighttime show at Oilcan Harry's on March 16. View Gallery: See Jaida Essence Hall, Symone, Gottmik talk politics and drag at SXSW
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