New York City Councilmember Kristin Richardson Johnson plans to keep pushing for a drag laureate in her city if the position doesn’t win support this year. “It’s just having that visibility and having that personal human connection - having that social story of someone from your community that looks like you or someone that you see or interact with on a regular basis,” Hamilt said. Jonathan Hamilt, executive director of Drag Story Hour, a global nonprofit event network that began in San Francisco in 2015, said he hopes other cities across the country will enact their own drag laureate programs. ![]() A federal judge temporarily blocked the measure hours before it was set to go into effect in late March. ![]() The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking 474 anti-LGBTQ+ pieces of legislation in the U.S., including Tennessee’s first-in-the-nation law that essentially bans drag from public property or in the presence of minors. The suspect was charged with hate crimes and murder. In November, a shooter at a Colorado Springs nightclub turned a drag queen’s birthday party into a massacre, killing five people and injuring 17 more. In Oregon last year, demonstrators - some of them armed - threw rocks and smoke grenades at each other outside a drag event. ![]() Members of the Proud Boys sparked a hate crimes investigation when they protested and shouted slurs outside a Bay Area library hosting Drag Story Hour, where drag queens read to kids, last June. But I got a lot of fabulous people and fabulousness behind me.” I don’t want to have intimidation stop me from growing,” she said. “I know that there are a lot of anti-drag folks out there, and they are very loud, right? But I also don’t want to live my life under the shadow of fear. “Whether it’s through a tragedy or to celebrate an occasion, she really has been a leader in this community and supporter of so many others,” Breed told The Associated Press.ĭrollinger said she felt both nervous and honored when she was told the job was hers, given the recent violence targeting drag performers, even in the Bay Area. The city’s mayor called Drollinger a “bright star in San Francisco″ for her advocacy and elevation of the city’s drag community. Her duties will span from producing and participating in drag events to serving as a spokesperson for San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ community to helping officials to ensuring the city’s drag history is “shared, honored and preserved.” The job posting sought someone who will “embody San Francisco’s historic, diverse and inclusive drag culture, elevating the entire community on the national and international stage.” In San Francisco, Drollinger will inaugurate the role three weeks before Pride Month begins. In New York, where the Stonewall riots marked a major turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, a 2021 effort to create such a position has languished in a committee, reflecting the challenges of creating such jobs even in liberal cities. West Hollywood is on the verge of appointing its own drag laureate later this month, though at a much lower salary and with limited engagements. “I feel very honored to be able to take that one more step.” “There’s a lot of power for the drag community in San Francisco,” she said. She noted San Francisco’s drag community is already politically engaged and active. “I’m going to be in drag pretty much 24/7 for the next 18 months.” ![]() She expects to be in drag for the entirety of her role. I think that is part of why drag is so successful,” said Drollinger, a man who uses feminine pronouns when in drag. I think drag performers bring a lot of sparkle and humor and glamor and silliness to the world. “My goals are to make San Francisco sparkle. D’Arcy Drollinger, a well-known drag performer and nightclub owner, will receive a $55,000 stipend in her 18-month role as the city’s inaugural drag laureate. In a city known for its support of LGBTQ+ rights, San Francisco Mayor London Breed says it was a natural step to create a position that not only embraces drag culture but puts government resources toward it. San Francisco is fighting back Thursday by naming the nation’s first drag laureate, an ambassador-style position designed to represent the city’s famous LGBTQ+ community at a time when rights are under attack. Violence and vitriol are turning children’s drag story hour events into headline-news protests. Bills prohibiting drag performances are cropping up in statehouses. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Anti-trans legislation is roiling the nation.
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