Dazzle, grit mix it up at DragCon
Celebration returns to L.A. in glammy splendor, even as looming threats to the culture are never far from thought.
What do RuPaul, the ACLU, sewing machines and the Teletubbies have in common? At this past weekend’s RuPaul’s DragCon, thousands of attendees from all over the world came together with more than 180 drag queens, turning the Los Angeles Convention Center into a two-day runway for the ages. Despite all the vendors, performances, meet-and-greets, wig and sewing workshops and more, RuPaul’s DragCon is so much more than that.
“This will probably be the biggest DragCon, with the most attendees ever,” said Randy Barbato, co-founder of the L.A. production company World of Wonder. He and WoW co-founder Fenton Bailey have DIY roots inspired by New York City drag clubs, and ’80s public access television. They started DragCon in 2015, billing it as a convention that celebrates “the art of drag, queer culture, and self-expression for all,” after being prompted at a Drag Race meeting by RuPaul herself to find a way to physically bring people together.
Barbato and Bailey were most thrilled about the pageantry of the Queen’s Walk, a yearly tradition where queens turn the pink carpet into full runway fantasy — and the site of iconic moments like Trixie Mattel zooming down the aisle in a Barbie Car and Yyvie Oddly spider-walking the length of the convention hall.
Barbato and Bailey gushed about the 70 international queens from as far as the Philippines, Spain, the Netherlands, Canada and France, how Ts Madison hosted “Bring Back My Girls,” one of WoW’s hit shows, live from the convention floor. This year boasted not one but two stages in the main convention hall, which saw live events like Bianca Del Rio’s kickoff show, two DJ sets by queen mother RuPaul and countless performances by drag icons like Jaida Essence Hall (appearing with Tinky Winky, Po, Dipsy and Laa-Laa of Teletubbies fame), Baga Chipz, Shea Couleé, Pangina Heals, Alaska, Kylie Sonique Love, Sasha Colby and more.
But along with all the excitement of the biggest DragCon ever, the looming cloud of the biggest year of antiLGBTQ+ legislation was never far from thought either. This year, far right extremists have been waging a war against the art of drag, as well as against LGBTQ+ people and rights.
“DragCon is the mecca of a political statement when it comes to showcasing trans, queer, and drag joy,” says Kerri Colby, an L.A.-based performer and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 14 contestant who was at the convention this year. “DragCon presents an outlet and an avenue to safely, fully, and authentically express oneself. I say that with such fervency because I myself was that person who needed that space.”
As a member of the House of Colby (yes, she is Sasha’s drag daughter), Kerri is known for being an incredible performer; fashionista; host of her own comedy series, “Kerri Kares”; and a trans rights activist.
The convention was a pivotal moment in Colby’s own journey. “DragCon was one of the few times I felt super safe, super motivated and super encouraged to present in a more feminine manner that helped me connect [to] and ultimately find myself when I started my transition two years later,” she said.
That first year walking the pink carpet at the L.A. Convention Center as an attendee, Colby had an experience as a fan that would affirm her in life-altering ways.
“I’m from Dallas, so Alyssa Edwards is everything to me,” Colby says. “I don’t oftentimes get starstruck, but she is one of the girls that will do it for me. She walked by and said, ‘Oh, my God. You’re so beautiful’ just as she was passing by. I felt like I looked crazy, but for her to say something nice, I was like, ‘Wow, I’m gonna put some more work into my craft.’ And it just made me feel more motivated.”
Heals performed on the main stage this year, walking the pink carpet in a campy yellow look that she promised would surprise fans. Heals is a beloved Bangkok-based drag performer who is sometimes called the RuPaul of Asia.
She is the host of “Drag Race Thailand,” as well as a new web series called “Tongue Thai’d” and the owner of the queer club House of Heals, a safe space with good lighting that seeks to showcase the best drag and nightlife that Thailand has to offer.
She’s also the first international queen to have a drag residency at the Drag Race Live show at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. Heals says she loves meeting fans and being part of the community, given how important her visibility has become for queer Asian representation internationally. “It so important, not just for the sake of representation, but we feel connected, we understand the same types of experiences,” she said. “In order for the world to be better, you have to see yourself in that world. If they can see me, they feel a sense of belonging. And that’s really important.”
“It’s really important that people can gather,” Bailey says, emphasizing that attempts by lawmakers to stop drag performances are civil rights issues. “The key thing is not to become invisible. Visibility is important. [Drag] is not a threat, it’s not dangerous or any of the things that it has been deliberately mischaracterized as.”
In March, World of Wonder, Viacom and RuPaul’s Drag Race joined forces with the ACLU to create the Drag Defense Fund, an initiative that supports legal defenses of queer, trans and drag rights in the United States in strategic ways. The ACLU was set to be present at DragCon, educating attendees about their work fighting for LGBTQ+ rights, the recent wave of legislative attacks and ways that individuals can fight back.
“Drag has a historic place in the queer rights movement,” says Gillian Branstetter, communications strategist at the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project and LGBTQ & HIV Project. Branstetter says the organization has been defending drag since 1967 when it advocated for Sir Lady Java, an L.A.-based drag queen and trans activist, who was arrested by LAPD on suspicion of violating Rule No. 9, a local cross-dressing ordinance much like the ones used against patrons at the famous 1969 riots at New York City’s Stonewall Inn that Pride now commemorates.
As attacks on drag performers have escalated across the country, including threats and actual violence, Branstetter urges that we integrate that into that broader discussion about attacks on queer people and rights nationally. “How are they going to limit regulation of gender performances onstage? When all gender is performance and all the world is a stage?”
This year, the ACLU has been tracking and challenging the increasing number of laws that seek to limit the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. Just this year, 474 bills have been introduced that seek to ban drag, according to the ACLU, restrict and outlaw gender-affirming care for trans youth and adults, limit trans sports participation, criminalize queer-affirming education and bar transgender people from using public restrooms, making 2023 the most legislatively hostile year toward LGBTQ+ people in U.S. history.
Many of these measures have been defeated because of the dedicated work of local activists and the ACLU. But while most of these bills don’t survive, they set a damning precedent and an alarming temperature check of the rise in hate as a legislative tactic and have affected many of the contours of queer life in this country. Branstetter says that according to a recent NBC News study, about 10% of these bills have made it into law, which is 10% too many.
“These laws, they’re dangerous, and they’re baseless,” Branstetter says. “They’re openly discriminatory and unconstitutional. They were written by hateful amateurs, and they’re going to be undone by transgender professionals.”
In addition to the ACLU, organizations working for trans and queer advocacy, health, and families like Out Here Sexual Health, and Extraordinary Families, an adoption agency that helps same sex couples adopt and foster, were scheduled to be present.
It was important for Colby to partner with the Trans Wellness Center, a local organization and the first of its kind in the U.S., offering comprehensive resources and services for trans and nonbinary people all under one roof. Sheplanned to be at the center’s table for a meet-and-greet and to talk about services trans people can access in Los Angeles — services that she has also used. “If you have questions or if you just want to vent about how you feel or be educated on how to better treat people in our society and in our lives, now you have a resource where you can set an appointment or talk to someone,” Colby said.
At its core, DragCon is a space built out of the love of drag and queer community, with many opportunities for shopping, of course, in the true spirit of RuPaul.
Despite all the serious issues this year, there was also plenty of room for fun, excitement and exuberance at the convention.
“All you got is the present, baby, and we already deal with enough chicken scratch,” Colby says. “We owe it to ourselves to have joy, to take it for ourselves, because we know nobody else is gonna give it to us.”