Preteen Drag Queens and Drag Queen Story Hour are Healthy
Drag is not sexual, gender variance is not horrifying
Rupaul and I go way back
I never met the famous drag queen, but my late-partner Lenny was a HUGE fan, from way back when her only stages were grungy East Village dives. I first saw her perform at New York’s Wigstock festival, way before it was chic and celebrated.
Drag has been part of gay culture since the roaring days of 1920s queer Berlin. Drag has been part of queer culture since before people grasped that sexual orientation and gender identity are different.
I didn’t GET drag the first time Lenny dragged me to see a show. As a newly out gay man, I was ignorant of my culture. And why not? Growing up in the Bible Belt and then spending years semi-closeted in the military, I didn’t know much about how other gay men ticked.
I had no inkling when I published the story that my subtitle, ‘A preteen drag queen shows us why’, would generate so much controversy.
I was drawn to Lenny because he was tall, handsome, strong, and masculine. He made me laugh when he told campy jokes and pretended to be effeminate, but his campiness didn’t…
