#Queer & Trans Wealth

[dustykneed]

HAPPY (last day of) PRIDE MONTH!

i'm reasonably sure it's still june in the states. humor me

[bitchesgetriches]

NEW POST!

Personal finance--it's not just for medium-ugly straight people anymore! Here are 5 helpful queer money experts from the LGBTQ+ community.

[itsbansheebitch]

Beauty standards are generally based more off of what rich people of the era look like than actual health or science.

Back in day if you could afford large amounts of food you were seen as attractive. Someone could tell if you had the means based off your waistline.

Nowadays if you have the money to not live off fast food, have the time to exercise, and/or have the means to buy exercise equipment/gym memberships/personal trainers/etc, your wealth is shown in your abs or your slimness.

How you look does not equate to health, but your wealth does equate to how you look. Money looks good on everyone, money just looks different depending on the era.

[confessions-into-the-void]

I'm so tired of being broke

I have so many dreams, but money is stopping me from doing all of them

[angelofsmalldeath-codeine]

The elections are over in the UK.

Shabbaz has a really good summary of the current situation. It’s worth taking a look.

And if my peeps over here live in the UK, please go out and vote in every election. Demand accountability from your local representatives. You can hold them accountable when they aren’t living up to their manifesto.

I no longer live in the UK. I was one of the many European migrant workers that left because of Brexit. The environment was hostile, the whole settlement scheme was giving dejavú of the Windrush scandal. Residency was now dependent on work visas, citizenship no longer attainable.

If you still live in the UK do your utmost to keep the tories out. Jacob Rees Mogg does not have your best interest at heart, his businesses are not even located in the UK. Boris Johnson got his French passport while he was pushing for Brexit. They’ve trashed the country to let you living in rubbles while they have a escape route.

[drippingwetworld]

URGENT NEED FOR MUTUAL AID

I know everyone is broke but i am homeless in the winter time after my long term partner and I split and she kept our apartment. I was left with no place to live & no options other than becoming completely destitute again after an 12 day inpatient hospitalization and when given the option to fight for it, i couldn’t because I don’t want her in legal trouble, even if I’m completely fucked now. I don’t have the desire to make her uncomfortable at all, let alone homeless. I just need help making it through the cold season. If anyone can help me with just enough money to pay my friend to let me couch surf with them a little longer (i will not survive outside in the cold I don’t have a warm jacket or pants or anything and can’t find one at any clothing closet bc I wear a bigger size) and (if I’m lucky) maybe a little bit of funds to get some warm clothes if I can’t come up with enough to stay warm at my friends place that would mean the world to me. I’m an intersex transmasc dyke with a life limiting chronic illness. I really don’t want to die in the cold and I’m so afraid I’m going to. If you can help, my Venmo is @harmonywoj . (Idk if Venmo still asks, but the last 4 of my phone # are 7332)

If 15 ppl send 18$, I have just enough money to stay with my homie til Dec 27th. (Which is a month of being housed, I got here on the 27th.) I need to get them as close to half of that as possible by the end of this week (December 8th.)

Overall goal: 270-300 to have a place to crash thru December, a little extra to get me some warm clothes would be nice but I can’t really ask for that.

I know things are hard for everyone right now. Please help me survive this part.

Im so sad that I am spending the holidays destitute when I thought I’d be warm in my apartment with my kitties. Im alone, and it’s scary. I want to live.

Please reblog and boost, I am desperate for any and all help I can get.

[librarycards]

SF Bookstore The Booksmith Commits to Stop Stocking JK Rowling's Books

trans book lovers + accomplices! go support The Booksmith, an indie bookstore in san francisco, that recently decided to stop stocking jk rowling's books in solidarity with trans people. their statement (beneath which, at the link, is a list of alternative wizard books) is as follows:

In May of 2025, author JK Rowling publicly committed to using her private wealth from the Harry Potter series to develop the "JK Rowling Women's Fund," an organization dedicated to removing transgender rights "in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces." With this announcement, we've decided to stop carrying her books. We don't know exactly what her her "women's fund" will entail, but we know that we aren't going to be a part of it. As a group of queer booksellers, we also had our adolescence shaped by wizards and elves. Look at us, it's obvious. If you or someone you love wants to dive into the world of Harry Potter, we suggest doing so by buying used copies of these books. Or, even better, please find below a list of bookseller-curated suggestions for books we genuinely love that also might fit the HP brief for you and yours. Many are series; some are standalone. Books for the younger folks are listed first, switching to teen/YA about halfway through (the book Wise Child is the first in the YA section). Questions? Concerns? orders at booksmith dot com. Happy reading, solidarity forever.

visit + order from them if you can, share either way!

[unforth]

Just for a different viewpoint, free range was not at all my experience. I was born in New York City in 1982, and I wasn't really allowed to go anywhere either alone or "just kids" until I was 10 and went to 6th grade by myself on the bus - that was fall of 1993 (I'm a December baby so I was not 11 yet).

I suspect the degree of freedom allowed was somewhat region and class dependent.

And a lot went away because like. Kids didn't get home, kids did get permanently hurt, as a parent with a 7 and 9 year old I def worry about them and I see a lot of survivorship bias in how people talk about the former freedom. I think we've gone too far to the other extreme now, especially given that stranger danger is mostly bullshit, but lack of supervision did lead kids to be in more danger, that danger just mostly wasn't from strangers. My son is a little over 9 and the other day he wanted to go for a walk around the block alone and we let him and it was fine. I see kids tween age and even younger out on their bikes without adults all the time - and I now live in a small semi-urban city with a diverse population.

How much this happened "back in the day" wasn't uniform, and how restricted things are now is also not uniform.

This is a legitimate and damaging cultural shift for all involved parties and it needs to be addressed.

[everyforkedroad]

Why Shine Might Be Set in 1969: A Story of Resistance, Silence, and Defiance

*sorry, folks, this is a long one, based on one humble inter fan's desire to understand

As we eagerly await the release of Shine, one intriguing detail stands out: its setting in Bangkok, 1969. 

Thailand in the late 1960s was not exactly a beacon of visible queer liberation. So why choose this year, this precise moment, to set this series? The answer may lie not in what was happening in the open, but what was burning just beneath the surface in Thailand and across the globe. That "light that lingers just beneath the shadows" that would turn a spark into the flames of social unrest.

1969 was a year of rupture and revolution. Across the world, young people were taking to the streets—angry, idealistic, determined to wrest power from corrupt systems. From the anti-war protests in the United States to student-led revolts in France, Japan, and Mexico, the air was electric with resistance. Music, fashion, and film reflected these seismic shifts, capturing the spirit of rebellion in psychedelic color.

In Southeast Asia, the Vietnam War raged just across the border. American troops passed through Thailand on their way to and from the front lines, and the Thai government, under military rule, maintained close ties with the United States. The social tensions of this geopolitical alignment were palpable between the rising tide of youth culture and a government suspicious of dissent. This tension was felt as well between imported modernity and deep-rooted tradition, agrarian poverty and Bangkok's concentration of wealth. All of these serve as a pressure cooker of tensions that was ready to explode.

In Thailand, student activism was gaining momentum. The seeds that would later blossom into the mass protests of the 1970s were already being planted in 1969. University campuses, especially Thammasat and Chulalongkorn, were becoming incubators for radical thought, as young intellectuals began to question military rule, wealth inequality, and the suppression of free speech.

Though the mass protests that would shake the monarchy and the junta had not yet occurred, the sense of unease was growing. Student publications, underground gatherings, and whispered debates signaled a generation preparing to stand up. It is into this world—a world tense with possibility—that Shine may drop its characters.

Half a world away, in June of 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York sparked several nights of defiant resistance led by trans women, drag queens, and queer people of color. It became a watershed moment in LGBTQ+ history, a symbolic ignition point for the modern gay rights movement. News of Stonewall may not have reached every queer person globally in that moment, but the reverberations would be felt by an entire generation.

For closeted individuals in Thailand, especially students and intellectuals already questioning other forms of repression, Stonewall represented something radical: the refusal to hide. Even if unspoken, it stirred something. It suggested that queerness and protest were not incompatible. That the same voices raised against political injustice would teach a future generation of queer people to fight for the right to love freely.

Thailand decriminalized homosexuality in 1956, over a decade before Stonewall. On paper, it was a progressive move. But legal tolerance did not equal cultural acceptance. The 1960s remained a deeply conservative era for queer Thais, especially in professional or public life. While kathoey ("ladyboys") had long been part of Thai cultural visibility, their presence did not signify broader acceptance of queer identities—particularly not of men who loved men or women who loved women outside of comedic or marginalized roles.

There were no pride marches. No activist networks. No formal advocacy groups pushing for LGBTQ+ rights in the way that began to unfold in the West. In fact, Thailand’s first gay rights organization, Anjaree, would not be founded until 1986—seventeen years after Stonewall, and almost two decades after the year Shine is set.

So why choose 1969 for a queer Thai story?

Because it is a liminal moment. 

A time before everything cracked open, when truth still had to live in shadows, but shined just as bright. A time when love, especially queer love, had to be coded through through music, poetry, unspoken gestures and looks. It’s a rich emotional landscape for drama, for longing and repression, desire and danger, all set against the backdrop of political awakening.

If Shine follows queer characters navigating this moment, their love story is not just personal, it’s political. Their very existence becomes resistance, not through protest signs or riots, but through every act of tenderness they dare to share in a world that tells them to stay invisible.

By choosing 1969, Be On Cloud may be offering a tribute to all the queer people in Thai history whose stories were never told. The ones who danced and sang behind closed doors. Who whispered their truths in journals and poems. Who watched the world begin to burn and wondered if there would ever be space for them in its new order, until they came into the awareness that they would have to build the world they wanted themselves. One love, one protest at a time.

So that future lives could Shine in the open as well.

[genderkoolaid]

Somebody Somewhere actor and veteran comedian Murray Hill is set to host a drag king reality competition series, The King of Drag, which will air on the LGBTQ+ streaming service Revry this spring, Variety reports. Tucked into Variety’s announcement was the application to be on the show, for which the deadline is January 5. The King of Drag bills itself as the first drag king competition series. Kings looking to earn a spot on the show’s inaugural cast will have to submit a wealth of material, all of which is outlined on the audition site. Potential cast must submit five photos of their top drag looks, videos of themselves in and out of drag, and a reel of previous drag performances. Finally, auditioning kings are asked to submit a resume of their performance work in drag and film themselves lip-syncing to a song or medley that shows off their “drag essence.” King of Drag, according to the audition site, “will expansively represent drag while promoting inclusion, authentic self-expression, and diverse gender identities including trans masc, cisgender women, non-binary and more.”

I better see queers hyping this up just as much as the hype up drag queen shows!!!

[bitchesgetriches]

5 Rad Queer Money Experts You Should Follow This Pride Month

It’s Pride Month! The most gayest time of the year! The month when corporations release rainbow-embossed merch and proclaim themselves Down With the Gayness. Yet here at Bitches Get Riches Incorporated, we’re not just LGBTQ+ community spokespeople… we’re also members! And so it is with zero hypocrisy and a whole lot of enthusiasm that we come to you this week with a very special message. And…

[skydaemon]

so we (and by we, i mean the very specific overlap of jews and nerds among whom i make my home) talk a lot about how tolkien's dwarves, in both the books and movies, were likely influenced by certain jewish stereotypes. obsessed with gold/wealth, secretive (especially about their language and religion), refugees from their ancestral home, portrayed with big, sometimes hooked, noses and interesting facial hair, and most specifically: the favourite little meow meows of one particular god, causing them to be shunned and persecuted by other races and creeds. this is likely unintentional, coming from the subconscious of tolkien in the same way orcs were "based on mongols" (ew colonialism) and activating subconscious biases/stereotypes in the people who designed the dwarves for the movies. it's subtext, albeit subtext that influenced the next eighty years of fantasy.

but what i don't see much discussion of is the fact that in terry pratchett's discworld, it's intentional. terry pratchett's dwarves are, more or less, jews.

carrot is a human adopted by dwarves, based on human standards. but within dwarf culture, he IS a dwarf. specifically, he has undergone specific rituals and memorised certain passages, making him LEGALLY a dwarf. this is basically how conversion works in judaism. indeed, as in judaism, it's considered rude to even mention that carrot is six feet tall and obviously wasn't born into the culture he has adopted.

the dwarves also have internal rifts - there are a group of 'orthodox' dwarves who consider the dwarves in ankh-morpork (who have adopted other customs and don't follow traditional roles) not to be dwarves at all, and don't recognise carrot as a dwarf for the same reason. they believe that the way to be a dwarf is to live in an all-dwarf community and follow their traditional rules, while other dwarves believe they need to change with the times and integrate (at least somewhat) with larger society. jewish as fuck.

there's also the interaction of dwarves with gender. when cherie comes out as female (which isn't a recognised gender by dwarvish society) she is ostracised for taking on the feminine roles common to other discworld races. however, she could never THINK of cutting off her beard, because she is still a dwarf. i see parallels with women in judaism taking on roles traditionally considered 'masculine' (e.g., as rabbis, wearing tallit and kippot) and the acceptance of queer people into jewish communities. there's lots of great discussion about cherie as a trans character on tumblr, btw.

finally, something that particularly strikes me is the line from carrot in tfe, where he says that the biggest dwarf city on the disc is ankh-morpork. obviously all diaspora communities can relate, but it's really something to know that new york is the city with the most jews in the world (960k to jerusalem's 570k. btw, 3rd is LA!).

i just love that, again, consciously or unconsciously, pratchett incorporated more positive elements of jewish culture into his portrayal of the dwarves.

[sirfrogsworth]

There was a time when celebrities were not expected to be political activists. And in modern times, it is a rare thing to see someone have the self awareness to know that can't speak on something with authority. Either because they just don't know enough about it or it isn't in their skill set.

It may not even be within their intellectual capacity to understand at the level required.

Which is my fancy way of saying...

But I think what sets Chappell Roan apart is that self awareness to say she doesn't have the answers. I find people saying "I don't know" very refreshing. There are much much stupider people, who are actual political representatives, who have zero self awareness of how stupid they are about politics. And it is kinda the reason we are in the current clusterfuck of fascism.

Beyond that, art is inherently political, and if you need to know the politics of an artist... refer to their art.

A queer artist becoming one of the most popular people in a country regressing to authoritarian conservatism is in itself political action. Just existing in this vast public forum is political action. Being queer on a world stage and singing about queer things is political action.

There is this weird thing where people think they essentially *own* a celebrity and so they must do what is demanded. We made this person rich, so they owe us something beyond their art, right?

I have many friends who cannot stay politically educated at all times because it is a detriment to their mental health. So they have to unplug and stay minimally engaged with what is happening. And I feel like people are saying you don't get to do that if you are a wealthy artist. You forfeit that option. Fuck their mental health.

As someone who has been slightly popular on the internet, it is hard to communicate just how toxic things can get. I am a white cis man who mostly made funny GIFs and comics about my corgi. I regularly got hate just because I didn't make a person laugh. They couldn't just move on to something they preferred. They had to make it their mission to inform me of their grievance. And in the times I decided to speak politically, I had people actually doxxing me and threatening Otis and sending things to my house.

I can't imagine what kind of toxic attention a queer pop star must receive. Yes, wealth offers great privilege, but there is no amount of money to protect you from that.

I feel like there is this unfair demand of all queer creators to be activists. I get why people think that. Shit is real bad for queer folks right now. But I watch someone like Jessie Gender allude to being suicidal because of the response to her political content and that she'd rather just talk about Star Trek.

If it is getting that bad, I think she should just talk about Star Trek.

And I also think being a popular trans woman—talking about Star Trek, and just being normal and likeable and passionate about something—is a benefit to the cause.

Normalizing trans-ness is political action.

Personally, I am fine with Chappell Roan letting her art be her political speech and leaving it at that. That's how it used to work before social media.

I mean, you probably don't even know who Edwin Starr is. But you know that war... hoo... yeah... what is it good for? Absolutely nothin. (Say it again, y'all.)

We didn't need anything else from Edwin Starr. We didn't need him to give a poorly researched analysis on the military industrial complex. Everything we needed from him was right there in the song.

War, I despise 'Cause it means destruction of innocent lives War means tears to thousands of mother's eyes When their sons go off to fight And lose their lives

That's some good shit.

I hate war now.

Good job, Mr. Starr.

I do not want nor expect unqualified people to be activists just because they have a large platform. It's a specific skill and it requires time and effort to educate oneself to do it well.

When I saw David Hogg get elevated to the leadership of the Democratic Party, I cringed. His only qualification was surviving a school shooting. But if you follow him and listen to his political arguments, they are... rough. He seems like a nice enough kid. And I'm glad he was able to use his tragedy to advocate for gun control. But he isn't an expert on gun violence. He can't speak with authority about the best solutions. And he just doesn't have any political savvy in general.

A lot of times I feel like we are saying, "You are a very popular singer, please fix my car." They say, "I don't know how to fix cars." But then we bully them into attempting it. And when they fuck up at fixing the car, we are like, "OMG, why are you so bad at fixing cars?"

I actually think part of the reason the Left is currently so disorganized and riddled with infighting is because we expect everyone to speak at the same time. And it is causing our message to get lost in the noise of it all. We talk about trusting scientific expertise but don't hold to that same standard for political expertise.

"Everyone should use their voice at all times. If you have a platform, you're an activist. Don't fuck it up."

AOC is good at this. Bernie is good at this. Kat Abughazaleh just announced she is running for office. She is good at this.

Instead of demanding everyone talk at once, we can use our platforms (big and small) to elevate the voices of people who are good at this.

Maybe something we can demand is that wealthy creators use their resources to help our best activists. When someone asks Chappell Roan how to fix trans rights, she could just say, "Please follow Erin Reed" and then sing a country song about being proficient at giving gals orgasms—which, again, is political action.

[redgoldsparks]

It's Right to Read Day, celebrating libraries, highlighting the relentless attacks against them, and encouraging folks to take at least one action to defend them! The American Library Association's data on the most banned books from 2024 is now out; after 3 years in the top spot GENDER QUEER came in at second on the list with George M Johnson's beautiful queer memoir ALL BOYS AREN'T BLUE at number one. If you haven't read it yet, please go pick up this book.

Unfortunately, instead of dying down, we are now seeing the book ban movement morph into an effort to defund and destroy ALL public libraries and ALL public education, as exemplified by the Trump Administration aiming to dismantle the Department of Education and placing all employees of the Institute of Museum and Library Services on administrative leave. The IMLS is an independent federal agency that provides grants to libraries and museums across the country. According to the American Library Association, the IMLS provides “the majority of federal library funds.” The IMLS says it awarded $266 million in grants and research funding to cultural institutions last year. This money goes to help staff, fund maintenance, and create new programs. If you are curious how the termination of this grant funding will effect the state of California, here is a press release from the California State Library. Please call your state governor and representatives asking them to demand support for the IMLS!

I also wanted to share some resources to help you talk about book bans/book challenges if the topic comes up in conversation. There are a set of really common bad faith arguments which book banners make, and I helped write up a set of responses for Authors Against Book Bans (much of this was also written and compiled by superstar author and AABB leader Maggie Tokuda-Hall). Below the responses to bad faith arguments are a list of resources you can contribute to, especially if you live in a blue state and don't have a current legislative battle over books and libraries in your own backyard.

What to Say When They Say What They Always Say: an Authors Against Book Bans resource

I haven’t read this book but I don’t think it’s appropriate for children! 

Please read the full book before you judge it. Passages are often presented without context. 

So you want kids to have access to porn?

No. And if that is a concern of yours as a parent, install browser filters such as Google SafeSearch on your children’s devices to keep them from accessing the wealth of pornography available to them on the internet. It’s already illegal to bring pornography into schools. There are robust safeguards– from laws, to industry standards in publishing and librarianship and education– to safeguard our children from obscene materials, as determined by the Miller Test. 

What about parents’ rights?

Parents already have robust rights in their children’s education. When that means limiting access to certain books parents can do so; nearly all schools have policies to this effect. But what about all the parents who WANT their kids to have access to books? Their children should not be limited by what another parent in the community decides for their own family. And what if a parent wants to limit their child’s access to something that child would benefit from? What about the child’s rights? Children are people, not possessions of their parents.

If my taxes fund the schools and libraries, I should have a say in how they’re used.

Schools and libraries serve entire communities, not just those who agree with you. Libraries and schools have professional educators and librarians with PhDs who are trained to curate collections that serve diverse populations, not just one viewpoint.

LGBTQ+ books confuse kids or make them gay/trans. They push an agenda.

LGBTQ+ representation is not an “agenda”—it’s simply a reflection of real people’s lives. If books featuring LGBTQ+ characters are “pushing an agenda,” then books featuring straight relationships or cisgender characters are as well. Reading about something does not automatically change a person’s identity, just as reading about astronauts does not turn every child into an astronaut. Reading about LGBTQ+ characters can both help kids understand themselves and build empathy and understanding towards others.

I live California. Why should I care about book bans if they’re not happening here?

We are fortunate to live in a state where book banning on the basis of discrimination has been outlawed through AB1825, which passed in 2024. However, California has still seen numerous book challenges in cities like Huntington Beach, Burbank, Lodi, and Chico—some of which continue efforts to overturn these protections. While bans are worse in red states, they still happen in blue states. Book bans are about control—not protecting children. The people banning books today will censor other forms of speech tomorrow. The right to read is a fundamental civil liberty, and we should protect it accordingly.

How Can I Help from a Blue State? For the biggest bang for your buck, we recommend  that you donate to the grassroots organizations making a difference in the places where the bans are happening all the time. All the ACLU chapters listed here are currently involved in lawsuits against book banners. 

We suggest:

Florida Freedom to Read Project: https://www.fftrp.org/donate 

Texas Freedom to Read Project: https://www.txftrp.org/donate 

Honesty for Ohio Education: https://www.honestyforohioeducation.org/donate.html 

Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization (DAYLO) in South Carolina: https://patconroyliterarycenter.org/donate-today-to-pat-conroy-literary-center/ 

Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT): https://www.studentsengaged.org/donate 

San Francisco’s Books Not Bans!: https://givebutter.com/booksnotbans 

Coeur D’Alene Public Library in Idaho: https://cdalibrary.org/donate/ 

Let Utah Read: https://www.fundlibraries.org/letutahread

Tennessee ACLU: https://www.aclu-tn.org/en/donate 

South Carolina ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/support-aclu-south-carolina 

Southern California ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/support-aclu-socal 

Iowa ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/support-aclu-iowa 

Fight for the First helps start grassroots groups all across the country: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fightforthefirst 

EveryLibrary (is a national org, but they financially support many of the groups listed here, as well as AABB): https://www.everylibrary.org/donate 

You can also call your state reps to express your commitment to protecting the freedom to read. Protections in blue states are just as contagious as bans in red states. The more of us who have them, the more states will follow suit. Use the 5Calls app do this, or find your rep here: https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/ 

And of course- if you are an author, editor, illustrator, cartoonist, translator, anthology editor, self-published author, please join Authors Against Book Bans! We could use the help! If you want to help recruit to AABB, feel free to print and pass out my recruitment zine at any literary event you attend <3

[charliejaneanders]

Hi! I live in middle of nowhere red state so I can't go to your trans nerd meetups, but it makes me so happy every time you post about them. Life is worth living and community is everywhere. Thanks for doing them.

“Life is worth living and community is everywhere” made me smile. That would be a good freaking tattoo!

I really do hope people organize their own trans nerd meet ups, or other trans/queer social events, in their own communities all over the place. (Just no gatekeeping or policing anyone’s identity, please!) I also know that if you’re trans in a red state and can’t find local community stuff, there is such a wealth of online community. I hope you find something amazing for yourself!

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids, 

Let’s look at some myths and facts about drag queens:

Myth: “Drag queen” is a gender identity.

Fact: Drag is a performance art. 

Let’s go into some detail here: “Drag queen” is a role you play, for example as a form of entertainment or as an expression of your creativity. A gender identity on the other hand is intrinsic and enduring, it’s about who you are in your mind and heart (For example: a trans woman doesn’t “play” a woman, she IS a woman). So, drag and gender identity are two separate things - although we also need to add a little disclaimer here that gender identity is wonderfully complex and highly individual and not always so easily defined. So while drag is usually separate from gender identity, there can be overlap! 

Myth: All drag queens are gay cis men.  

Fact: Drag is an inclusive art form. Many drag queens are gay cis men, but not all. Drag performers can have any sexual orientation and gender identity - including transgender or non-binary. See that part about “overlap” above! 

Myth: There’s only one type of drag.  

Fact: Drag is incredibly diverse and has many different styles. Drag queens may also blend different types to create their own unique persona. Some examples: Pageant drag focuses on glamour and beauty (drawing inspiration from traditional beauty pageants). Camp drag leans into humor and exaggeration (celebrating the “so bad it's good” aesthetic). Alternative drag experiments with unconventional or avant-garde looks (breaking norms to challenge mainstream beauty standards). Club kid drag is known for its bold, futuristic looks (inspired by the nightlife scenes of the 80s and 90s). 

Myth: Drag is inherently sexual.  

Fact: Any art form can potentially be done in a sexual way but that doesn’t mean art is an inherently sexual thing. So, while some drag performances may include adult humor or themes (if they’re advertised for an adult audience), many other shows are family-friendly and focus on comedy, storytelling, or artistry. A drag event advertised as a family event will not be sexual. (It’s really just a common sense thing: You don’t expect kids movies to be sexual, just because adult movies also exist). 

Myth: Drag has only been around for a few years.  

Fact: Drag has a long history, dating back centuries. Men and women have cross-dressed in theater since at least the time of Shakespeare, and modern drag has roots in the ballroom culture of the 20th century. It definitely didn’t randomly spring up in the 2020s. 

Myth: Drag queens make fun of women.  

Fact: It’s more the opposite. Drag is a tribute to femininity and celebrates aspects of female identity and fashion. While some drag may use exaggerated features for humor, it’s usually done with admiration and respect, not as mockery. If it mocks something, it’s usually things like extreme beauty standards, gender stereotypes etc. 

Myth: All drag queens are famous and rich.  It’s easy money. 

Fact: The majority of drag performers are local artists who put a lot of time, effort, and money into their craft without making much. Only a small fraction gain fame or wealth, most do it out of passion.

Myth: Drag isn’t important for the lgbt+ movement. A ban on drag doesn’t really affect the community.  

Fact: Drag historically has been (and still is) an essential part of the lgbt+ movement, creating a visible platform for self-expression and providing a safe space where people can explore their identities. Drag performers have often led the way in activism, supporting many causes from HIV/AIDS awareness to transgender rights. A ban on drag doesn’t just limit artistic freedom - it threatens to silence a key part of queer culture and history. It also sets a dangerous precedent that can lead to further restrictions on our rights, marking the start of a slippery slope toward broader discrimination.

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad