Music blasts through the speakers as drag king Marty McGuy steps into the ballroom of Russell House. He is met by the USC community with enthusiastic applause. With a suit decorated with pink ruffles and a mustache drawn onto his upper lip, McGuy marches to the stage with confidence and a bright smile: the show has begun.
Earlier this semester, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs hosted a drag brunch featuring four drag kings, Marty McGuy, Don Javi, Marcel Blaze and Han D. Mann as well as drag queen Kenya Pleaser.
All five performers took the stage on that Sunday to lip-sync to a medley of energetic songs, flashing their sequin-studded outfits and flirting with the crowd of enthusiastic USC students, which is only one facet of drag’s many eccentrics.
This marked the second consecutive year of the Queer Connections Drag Brunch event, a spectacle Assistant Director for LGBTQ Education Bri Newton takes pride in hosting, she said.
“The thought process was creating another space during the fall semester for LGBTQ students,” Newton said. “And drag is our ultimate form of expression for the community.”
Drag performances traditionally showcase an exaggerated gendered expression through both the performers’ costumes and set list. Drag performances are versatile in nature. Some examples are Story Time, where performers read children’s books while clad in costumes and donning characters, and lip-syncing performances such as those put on during the drag brunch. While these two formats are popular, there are countless more.
Blaze shared that he appreciates drag for that precise reason: there is no one right way to do it.
“Everybody’s strengths are totally different,” Blaze said. “You got glitz and glam, you got camp, you got everything underneath the sun.”
At the brunch, each performer flaunted a unique style of drag, showing off their individual take on gender and self-expression through their performance.
McGuy valued a comedic approach to his performance from his "Glee"-inspired outfit to his animated facial expressions. Javi featured Spanish hits and a Latin dance rhythm. Blaze, on the other hand, hit the stage with high-energy pop and hip-hop hits while Pleaser busted down to the tune of confident female pop ballads. Finally, Mann closed up the performance with a suave performance backed by sultry pop music.
Expressing identity is a critical part of drag. Not only do drag performers showcase their unique identities, they represent different sides of the incredibly diverse LGBTQ+ community.
“It’s a satire of gender roles and a celebration of gender expression,” Mann said. “It’s a celebration of who we are.”
Culture also plays a key role in each drag performer’s work. Don Javi reflects his Latinx identity through his performances. When Javi started out as a drag king, he noticed a lack of Latinx representation in the art and decided to add a little bit of his own Latin flavor into his show, he said.
“I think last year I was able to perform at three different prides,” Javi said. “And there was not a single pride that someone that was Latinx didn’t come up to me and say thank you for representing us.”
Along with the myth that there is only one way to perform drag, there is also bias regarding the body size of drag performers. Diverse body sizes and shapes are not expected on the stage, said Pleaser. As an overweight gay Black man, Pleaser finds it important to take up space on the stage. From the moment she steps into the spotlight, she effortlessly defies the discriminatory stereotypes.
“Being a bigger person, you always have to be covered up. You always have to wear certain things,” Pleaser said. “But no, let’s show some skin, let’s do a cartwheel. Let’s do a split.”
Pleaser’s drag is a love letter to black women, she said. She has found inspiration from Lizzo, Beyoncé, Whitney Houston and other powerful Black women.
“I’ve had women come up to me and say, you give me confidence,” Pleaser said. “I said, 'Honey, no. I am me because of you'.”
Not only does drag represent the community, but there is plenty of comradery found backstage among the performers themselves as well.
“I thought it was going to be more of a personal journey and in a lot of ways it has been,” Mann said. “But the drag community within the larger LGBTQ+ community is like my home. It’s where I found my family.”
While there is often a perceived divide between drag performers and the rest of the world, Newton believes that anyone can “do drag” and that drag is for everyone. While it is known predominantly as an expression of the LGBTQ+ community, anyone from any walk of life can both enjoy and participate in the art, Newton said.
“I think drag really teaches you that who you are is fantastic and to celebrate that,” Newton said. “Any shape of person you are, no matter what you believe in, no matter how you present yourself, there is a space for you in drag.“
In the face of recent anti-drag legislature with nearly 500 anti-drag bills, drag performers are under high scrutiny. Public paranoia that drag performers are aiming to groom young children result in bills banning minors from watching drag events in states such as Tennessee, Oklahoma and South Carolina. McGuy recalls having to be escorted from a Story Time show because one of the audience members claimed he had a gun and would shoot the drag king.
These anti-drag movements do not only affect the performers; they inhibit transgender expression among youth. Drag bans have historically been used as an indirect attack on transgender individuals. Under a drag-ban, any individual who is transgender can be criminalized simply for walking down the street, says nonbinary drag queen and historian, Dr. Lady J in an interview with The Center for Public Integrity.
This hateful movement, however, does not stop the performers from flaunting their fabulous selves. McGuy emphasizes that drag is an integral part of society; drag performers are everywhere, and they demand respect.
“We are teachers. We are doctors. We are lawyers,” McGuy said. “We are in the community just like you, we just put a little extra sparkle.”
