Drag as Performance

I. Drag as Art

Drag is a deeply creative mode of expression. The art of performing a characterization of femininity for drag queens, as well as the characterization for masculinity for drag kings, has never ending iterations that have been taken to the stage all over the world. This performance of drag in New Orleans occurs most commonly in small and well-loved gay bars. The level of commitment and love for drag that so many have manifests itself in the elaborate stage shows, costumes, hair, and fully formed personas that many dedicate their life to. One usually begins their career by creating these looks and personas entirely on their own. However, through years of performing and community building, drag performers often come to rely upon other performers and artists who create wigs, corsets, shoes, and other drag essentials. This reliance creates a network of managers, bartenders, performers, and artists that for many become a family all in itself.

In New Orleans, the long history of festival and Mardi Gras culture transforms the interpretation of drag into a form different than any other. Since the 1960s, members of the New Orleans LGBTQ+ community have been at the forefront of organizing balls, krewes, and the shining, colorful facades that cover New Orleans during Carnival. The historical photo book, Unveiling the Muse: The Lost History of Gay Carnival in New Orleans (2017) by Howard Philips Smith explores the Krewes from the 1960s to present day that create the setting of Mardi Gras that bring people from all over the world to participate in the celebration.

Those who work on the French Quarter’s famous Bourbon Street, the city’s epicenter for drinking and partying, claim that this section of New Orleans comes alive during Mardi Gras. Arthur Severio, who has been a drag queen for 15 years, described in an interview his experience attending the Bourbon Street Awards as a teenager in the mid-1980s. Severio attended The Bourbon Street Awards, which take place the day after Mardi Gras, with his brother, a drag queen who passed shortly after from complications from AIDS.

The art of drag that is present in many cities worldwide are directly influenced by both the city and culture they exist within. Consequently, New Orleans drag has a flavor of festivity whose roots can be traced back to Mardi Gras traditions and celebrations.

II. Drag as Gender

Though drag will always be centered in the ability to create and deliver an artistic rendering of a character, for many performers drag opens the door to understanding their true identity. One of my interviewees, Teryl Lynn Foxx, described her experience being a child who knew that she was different from other kids. She says she was aware of her softer voice and kind demeanor, and that many people felt these traits did not align with what society deemed as masculine. Foxx says she did not understand who she was until one night when she was dressed up in a wig and makeup at a party in her teen years and finally saw her true self.

I was very grateful for Foxx’s openness and ability to provide insight on her journey with gender and descriptions of how drag influenced her transition. During the interview I asked Foxx if being around other gay CIS men performing as women aided or hindered her self-discovery. What she told me was that it helped her to become her true self on a stage and to be loved for it. Performing on stage is what gave her confidence in her identity. Foxx’s stories also provided a fascinating lens to view Judith Butler's idea of gender performance through the literal form of performance. This performance is defined as taking perceived roles and exteriors and becoming them through repetitive acts.

For many, drag becomes more than a character on stage. For Teryl Lynn, finding her identity and voice again was made possible one night seeing herself in a wig and makeup. This led her on the path of understanding who she was and being a beloved performer that loved who she was and her body, as she later told me, once she was able to get top surgery they could barely keep clothes on her for how much she wanted to show the world. With stories like these, drag becomes more than just a persona, it allows many to be loved and applauded for who they are.

III. Drag as Job

Though many drag queens go to bars, perform, go home, and take their drag off until the next performance, the term "street queen," as defined by Esther Newton, refers to someone who never fully leaves their drag persona and the appearance that accompanies it. Life as a “street queen” is the reality for many trans women, as they not only perform as women, but live as women off stage. The author James Sears discusses the life of transgender women who hustled on Bourbon Street as sex workers to survive in the 1970s. Sears’ work gives context for many of the instances of sex work my interviewees described experiencing in New Orleans during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The reality of sex work as a necessity to survive was charaterized by their inability to be accepted by both the heterosexual and homosexual life and remained a constant between both time periods.

During our interview, Teryl Lynn Foxx described her experience graduating from the University of New Orleans in 1981 with a degree in education. After only a couple of years of teaching, she began to hear about unfounded accusations children and their parents began making concerning gay male educators. Gay educators were accused of treating students inappropriately in their classes, which in turn caused many to lose their jobs. Scared of being targeted before she had transitioned, Foxx quit her job as a teacher in 1983. Accusations of this kind weren’t without precedent in the years leading up to this time. In the 1960s, Anita Bryant of Florida began the campaign “Save Our Children” on the basis that because gay people who couldn’t have children would get jobs as teachers to brainwash and control the children of others. Campaigns like this spread to California where the Briggs Initiative began finding educators who were be gay or knew of someone who was in order to force them out of a job. These campaigns and initiatives can be explored further in the essay, "The Johns Committee: A Historiographic Essay" (2014) by Judith Poucher and the speech “Political Pawns” (2013) by Karen Graves. These actions and campaigns had a ripple effect that instilled fear in educators like Teryl Lynn Foxx years after the Briggs Initiative officially ended. After quitting the job she earned a degree for, Foxx began her physical transition. Her transition was aided by other trans women who also participated in sex work, but was interrupted in 1985 when she was arrested.

During my interview with Lisa Altman, she thought back to her time in New Orleans working at the 500 Club as well as at Papa Joe’s on Bourbon Street from 1987-1989. She explains that the money was good and plentiful, and that Papa Joe’s was considered a “female impersonator” bar which attracted “admirers or chasers” of trans women. Teryl Lynn also discussed working at this bar and that the performers were described as “the most beautiful boys in the world” rather than as women who worked and danced.

Something that Lisa felt was a privilege of hers as a white trans woman who was able to pass as a CIS woman, was her reality that if she ever wanted a "square job", that was more of a normal 9-5 day-job, she always had one. Though she always kept her identity quiet, the ability to "go stealth" as she called it, allowed her to "stay grounded" and not solely rely on sex work unlike many of her trans sisters.

For many trans women and those who never fully left their drag persona after a performance, finding work wasn’t easy. Often having to pass as a CIS woman was a barrier that kept many from finding safe and stable work. This meant that sex work was often the only viable way to make a living. This created a community of trans sex workers who with a community often had shared stories and life experiences.