Sometimes I can’t stand drag shows.
To admit it out loud is liberating and scary. It’s a silent, unspoken rule that gay men are obligated to embrace, adore, and unconditionally love drag queens. But what if I don’t?
I brought my straight friends to a drag show three years ago. When I’m at a drag show I always feel the same way I felt in high school in class when I didn’t study for a test. No matter what corner of the room I hide in, it always seemed the spotlight singled me out to get called on. True to form, the drag queen zeroed in on me and my friends. The run-of-the-mill “drag queen vs. heterosexual” banter ensued, and I internally rolled my eyes at having to sustain this mediocre song and dance for the thousandth time in my life.
This article appears in Nov 10-16, 2011.