“Read my silicone lips: We are never going back in the closet,” shouted Nicole Murray-Ramirez, otherwise known as Empress Nicole the Great, Queen Mother of the Americas.
Murray-Ramirez, head of the International Imperial Court System, a storied LGBTQ organization founded in San Francisco in 1965, was one of several hundred who gathered today at Union Square to celebrate drag, and to hit back at the wave of anti-drag and anti-trans legislation sweeping the country.
“There are currently 432 anti-trans and anti-drag bills that have either been passed or are in the process of being passed into legislation,” said Jasmine Hill, a volunteer at the march. “There are so many other, bigger issues that actually need to be solved, like gun violence, but we’re being used as scapegoats.”
A huge crowd — shod in stilettos, combat boots, and everything in between — gathered outside City Hall this morning for the “Drag Up! Fight Back!” rally. Before they set off, a moment of silence was held for Heklina, the San Francisco drag queen who died in London on Monday. She was praised for her politically informed performances and was described as a proponent of “brass-knuckle, survivalist drag.”
The crowd then flowed down to Union Square, marching in the wake of a party bus blasting a rainbow of techno-pop. Chants of “Drag up! Fight back!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, drag laws have got to go!” boomed throughout downtown.
“Our drag sisters and brothers and our trans kids are really feeling like they’re under attack right now,” said San Franciscan marcher David Kim. “We’re all part of the same LGBTQIA+ family and we need to stand up for them.”
“And, you know, I definitely enjoy watching and seeing drag,” he added.
“Performance itself has a very political charge to it right now,” said Keith Burgelin. “It’s been beautiful to see people returning to the roots of what drag started out as, in that sense.”
Marcher Kevin Lindsey used to live in San Francisco, but moved back to his native Texas when the pandemic began. Back in the city on a visit, he said the march was an opportunity to “represent the LGBTQ community in states like Texas that are truly under attack.”
“I think living in California means living in a bubble,” said Lindsey. “I heard one person today refer to LGBTQ culture as a California subculture, and it’s not. We are everywhere.”
Lindsey called upon San Franciscans for solidarity, donations to LGBTQ organizations and better understanding of the “really beautiful” queer communities living in the traditionally conservative state.
Bills around the country have been clamping down on drag recently. Tennessee became the first state to ban public drag performances this week, and the law is currently snarled up in the courts. Similar bills are being advanced in at least fourteen other states. Some explicitly aim to ban drag around children.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, who has been repeatedly targeted by right-wing trolls for his support of drag and trans rights, spoke in support of transgender children today. “These kids are so damn brave,” he said, heaping scorn on politicians who subjected them to “attacks and demonization” in order to win political points.
Many marchers today expressed gratitude for the relatively queer-friendly laws in the Bay Area. But there was still unease at a perceived uptick in transphobia and opposition to drag. Multiple signs expressed opposition to bill AB 1314, a bill introduced to the California legislature last month that would require teachers to tell parents if their children identified as transgender.
Several Mission organizations marched in solidarity. Galería de la Raza, the nonprofit art gallery at 24th and Folsom streets, sent a contingent. Friend of the gallery and longtime activist Olga Talamante spoke about “staying in solidarity with all our siblings who are being targeted.”
“I am honored to be here with who I consider the fierce warriors of our LGBTQ movement, the trans and drag community,” said Talamante, addressing the hundreds-strong crowd.
Also at the march was Yazmin Macias, a Health Educator with the Instituto Familiar de la Raza, a Mission-based non-profit that supports the Latino community.
“Lawmakers want to take away rights that we already have, and we are here to let them know that they need to respect us,” said Macias in Spanish.
After speeches from activists, politicians, and allies, a conveyor belt of drag royalty gave performances this afternoon. Here are some highlights from the day.
Flamboyant outfits and performances were a necessity. 
Alex U. Inn and Drag Up! Fight Back dancers. 
One performer read from a book called “The Hips of the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish.” 
Trans and rainbow flags abounded. 
Outfits ranged from the fabulous to the majestic. 
One-time supervisorial candidate Honey Mahogany spoke to the crowd. 
Marcher Jess Hele and their rainbow flag. 
Drag king Luke Modelo described his act as “queer, kitschy joy” that would “lighten the mood in these really difficult times for our community.” 
The drag march on its way from City Hall to Union Square.
Drag is sacred, just declare it a religion with Jose Sarria or DarrelleXV as it’s deity. They can’t ban religions and it’s no more ridiculous than a Jewish zombie or an Arabic child molester.
When the right wing puts up the cape, the neoliberals can’t help themselves but charge, ignoring strategic considerations, allowing their opponents to define the terms of their engagement.
In San Francisco, population ~820K, perhaps scores of people are into the drag scene. The only reason why drag is visible is that drag personalities relentlessly self promote their monetized schtick.
So what we’ve got is the LGBT agenda topped by defending the right of not necessarily LGBT cross dressing clowns to do modern day minstrelsy, Blackface but for women.
My concern for drag rights is as minimal as drag rights is relevant to the struggle for freedom. Drag should not be banned. But taking the bait and doubling down on prioritizing defending drag along with the current sexist trans froth picks fights where LGBT are weak and conservatives strong while abusing women.
If this is not the neoliberal version of COINTELPRO, it might as well be.
Why did conservatives get worked up over drag? Because one time SF local Michelle Tea started drag story hour, having drag queens read to youth in libraries. There are no equivalent instances of hetero cabaret singers reading to youth in libraries.
This happened during the rise of ‘trans medicine for youth.’ The prospect of drag queens introducing youth to gender fluidity while puberty blockers were in play alarmed the conservatives.
It is high time for LGB to back slowly away from this neoliberal backlash machine, as our politics have diverged from TQ+ and the largely hetero non-binaries to the extent that political coalition is no longer possible.
Drag is not the hill to die on unless you’re in with the nonprofits who want to bank monetizable backlash fuel for the next few decades.
“Marcos, what you said is the most profound thing ever,” are words I bet no one has ever said to you in your life. FFS, just say you don’t care about what happens to gender non-conforming people next time instead of composing a word vomit masquerading as intelligence and slowly tormenting our brain cells. I would rather listen to nails grinding against a chalk board in double the time I read your comment than to ever come across your unoriginal commentary ever again.
I find this post extremely insulting and wrong. I wish we had a MUTE option here.
Powerfulllllllll!