Drag artists have been part of the Quebec cultural landscape for many decades, from the precursor Lana St-Cyr to the mythical Guilda, passing by the great Mado and more recently, the television broadcasters Rita Baga, Gisèle Lullaby and Mona de Grenoble. Queens and kings of disguise, daring, comedy and creativity, they are also the standard bearers of the demands of the LGBTQ + communities, appearing publicly to defend those who fail to make their voices heard. .
Seasoned performers, drag queens wield the tongue like comedians, the scissors and the needle like seamstresses, the stiletto like top models and emotion like actresses. True Swiss army knives of entertainment, these multidisciplinary artists with many talents are also sensitive and intelligent humans who know how to adapt their performance and adopt a register that suits their audience.
Today, you can come across these colorful artists, not only in cabarets and clubs, but in various places and at any time of the day. For a few weeks, the speeches have been on fire and are calling for their return to night life. As the art of drag becomes more democratic, we realize that these multifaceted artists are unknown.
Two weights, two measures
Quebec loves its comedians and gives them pride of place on a wide range of stages, television shows, radio channels, etc. We have seen many men dress up as women in the media. From Serge Thériault as Môman in The little life to Marc Labrèche as Celine Dion in the bye to Jean-Michel Anctil and his Priscilla, these characters are adored by a very large audience.
In fact, if no one raises their voices in front of these characters, it’s because the men who play them are perceived as heterosexual. When a straight guy dresses up as a girl, it’s comical. When a gay or queer man does it, it’s disturbing. It could be shocking, dangerous, traumatic, even. This is for an informed public only… and certainly not for children!
For what ? Could it be our still tenacious tendency to reduce LGBTQ+ people to their sexuality? Could this be a hint of this old reflex of associating homosexuality and pedophilia? Could it be, by any chance, the effect of a transphobic gaze that confuses the art of drag and transidentity? Be that as it may, telling drag performers that their place is in cabarets is to assume that they are incapable of judging their audience. It’s telling them that we don’t want to see them in the public space. As often, we say to the LGBTQ + communities: do what you want, but we don’t want to know it.
The art of drag and children
Talking to children about diversity, giving them access to points of view and experiences that may not be familiar to them, it nurtures their openness to difference. Meeting people who are different from us teaches us to listen to them, to welcome them and to respect them.
In a society where nearly half of LGBTQ+ youth feel unhappy or depressed at school and incidents of bullying are not uncommon, educating yourself about being different is not a luxury.
For those who are concerned about the oh-so-difficult questions children would ask following a story-telling activity with a drag queen, we would like to remind you that children regularly ask difficult questions. How does an airplane fly? How long has life existed? How did the sand get to the beach? Our experience tells us that many more children understand that there are men who like to dress up as women, there are women who like women or even people who don’t want to be neither a boy nor a girl. , than children who have understood the origin of life or aeronautics.
To build an anti-drag argument on a supposed difficulty of understanding and a possible confusion in the child, is to grant very little credit to the intelligence of the children and that of the Quebec population.
And rest assured, spending an hour with a drag queen won’t change a child’s gender identity or sexual orientation. The proof, the signatories of this letter grew up watching films and reading stories with mostly heterosexual and cisgender protagonists. And yet, here we are, proud and supportive LGBTQ+ people.
*Co-signed this letter:
LGBTQ+ organizations
Assistance to Trans Quebec ATQ, Montreal and province of Quebec
AlterHeros, Montreal
Quebec Gay Archives, Montreal
Lesbian Solidarity Center, Montreal
West Island LGBTQ2+ Center, Beaconsfield
Montreal LGBTQ+ Community Center
Abitibi-Témiscamingue Sexual Diversity Support Coalition
Coalition of LGBT+ Families, Montreal
Trans legal collective, Montreal and Quebec
Quebec LGBT Council, Montreal
Miscellaneous-People, Estrie
Diversity KRTB, Bas-St-Laurent
Together for the respect of diversity, Montreal
Montreal Team
Montreal Pride, Montreal
Pride Val-d’Or, Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Massimadi Foundation, Montreal
Gay and Grey, Montreal
GRAY Eastern Townships
GRIS-Montreal, Montreal
Interline, Montreal
IRIS Estrie
Young creative identities, Montreal
Lambda Youth, Montreal
Le Neo, Lanaudiere
The 3 sex*, Montreal
LGBTQ2 + Vaudreuil-Soulanges
Magazine L’Araneide, Bas St-Laurent
HANDS Bas Saint-Laurent
QueerTech, Montreal
Quebec Deaf Sexual Health Network
REZO, Montreal
Sphere — overall sexual health, Laval
Trans Outaouais, Outaouais
drag queens and drag kings
Barbados, Montreal
Gina Gates, Sherbrooke
Gisèle Lullaby, Queen of Canada
Justin Hole, Montreal
Lady Boudoir, Haus of Boudoir, Trois-Pistoles
Lana Dalida, Montreal
Miss Fountain, Saint-Hyacinthe
Old El Pa-Slut, Val-d’Or
Robin Brutal, Montreal
Shane Saw, Haus of Boudoir, Trois-Pistoles
Uma Gahd, Montreal
Rockwell Victory, Montreal