Drag as Place

I. Drag in Medical Facilities

In a CIS gender and heterosexual society, the road for trans people to transition with the aid or hormones can be difficult. Most people consider access to medications to be a simple formula that includes going to a doctor and getting a prescription which can be filled at a local pharmacy. However, for many trans people who were medically transitioning in New Orleans during the 1980s, access to medications was not simple. Many trans people were forced to seek treatment from doctors who did not understand the trans experience. This process often began by being diagnosed with gender dysphoria. My interviewee Stephanie Lee explains that before transitioning in 1990, she had to consult a psychiatrist who made her feel that knowing she was a woman meant that the illness of being transgender was taking over her.

Lisa Altman describes the processes of transitioning for those who did not or could not consult with a physician to help them through the various steps of physical transition. Altman says that once she arrived in a new city, one of the first things that she did was find other trans women who knew which doctors and pharmacies trans people could receive hormone prescriptions from. This often meant finding a doctor who would prescribe anything needed with no questions asked and a pharmacy who would do the same, filling any prescriptions given to them.

Teryl Lynn Foxx describes the single doctor and pharmacy willing to prescribe and fill hormone needs. These doses were determined by those taking the medications, with no supervision or advice from medical professionals. Foxx also discusses how not having blood work done or having knowledge about side effects such as severe mood swings that often take place during transition often put trans people at medical risk. In addition, injections of hormones were done from one person to another without medical training, which led to an increased threat of contracting AIDS for those who reused needles. The danger of needle reuse is often associated with drug users, and is too often overlooked as a reality that affects the trans community.

For those in drag who were not trans women, many also found themselves in medical facilities hoping to enhance their female impersonation by adding silicone implants, botox, or other treatments used to increase their femininity. Enhancements that required needles such as botox could have been done at lower prices by an unlicensed individual which also opened up the possibility of needle sharing and contracting HIV/AIDS.

For trans women, the steps needed to physically transition with the aid of a doctor meant that they had to be formally diagnosed with a psychological illness. Circumventing this diagnosis meant foregoing the safety of having a licenced doctor prescribe and facilitate hormone treatments throughout an individual’s transition. Often this was a compromise trans people were forced to make in order to live as their true selves.

II. Drag in Everyday Life

Though drag is an art form that allows performers to embody someone completely new and showstopping, when they go home after a show, most leave their personas behind. For many trans people, drag as a performance of gender is how they woke up, interacted with loved ones, went to the grocery store and even attended church. Though it takes time for many CIS people to properly understand the trans experience, it is important to aknowledge that trans people move through daily life just like anyone else.

I was honored to hear the story of Teryl Lynn Foxx’s life and the reality of what coming into herself as a trans woman was like. She describes her experience in 1985 when she was arrested for sex work and had to have her family pick her up from jail. She left everything she had behind in order to be with her family, and cherished their love and support.

As an active member of her church, Teryl Lynn Foxx also shared with me a light hearted story of her pastor that happened in more recent years. This moment occurred when he sat her down to talk about understanding her life and his inability to judge who she is without judging himself in return.

Though trans women are forced to face far more obstacles than most, the reality is that they are normal people who have everyday struggles. Though the trans people I interviewed lived through so much, they all live with the same needs and desires for love and support as the CIS people who walk alongside them.

For Arthur Severio, who came to New Orleans at 18, having his brother by his side to welcome him into the city and to build a network of family centered in the gay and drag community meant the world to him. He discusses the first drag show he attended at Travis’ on North Rampart where his brother’s lover was the DJ. He says that this bar and drag show inspired him and allowed him to find people who became like family.

Many drag performers often become family through their shared experiences. The love and support from those who have grown up together and supported each other is a powerful force of happiness for those who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community.