A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and have been a part of gay culture.
Lady Bunny, previously known as Bunny Hickory Dickory Dock, is an American drag queen, nightclub DJ, actor, comedian, and event organizer. She is the founder of the annual Wigstock event, as well as an occasional television and radio personality. She has released disco singles such as "Shame, Shame, Shame!" and "The Pussycat Song", and has hosted two one-woman comedy shows, 'That Ain't No Lady!' and 'Clowns Syndrome'.
Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW to the west, M Street NW to the south, and Florida Avenue NW to the north. Much of the neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. However, the local government Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the Dupont Circle Historic District have slightly different boundaries.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI), also called Order of Perpetual Indulgence (OPI), is a charitable, protest, and street performance movement that uses drag and religious imagery to satirize issues of sex, gender, and morality and fundraise for charity. In 1979, a small group of gay men in San Francisco began wearing the attire of Catholic nuns in visible situations using camp to promote various social and political causes in the Castro District.
Linton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, on the border with Essex. The village is approximately 8 miles (13 km) southeast from the city and county town of Cambridge. The A1307 passes through the village.
Capital Pride is an annual LGBT pride festival held in early June each year in Washington, D.C. It was founded as Gay Pride Day, a one-day block party and street festival, in 1975. In 1980 the P Street Festival Committee formed to take over planning. It changed its name to Gay and Lesbian Pride Day in 1981. In 1991, the event moved to the week prior to Father's Day. Financial difficulties led a new organization, One In Ten, to take over planning of the festival. Whitman-Walker Clinic (WWC) joined One In Ten as co-sponsor of the event in 1997, at which time the event's name was changed to Capital Pride. Whitman-Walker became the sole sponsor in 2000. But the healthcare organization came under significant financial pressures, and in 2008 turned over producing duties to a new organization, Capital Pride Alliance.
The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ community in New York City. The largest pride parade and the largest pride event in the world, the NYC Pride March attracts tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators each June, and carries spiritual and historical significance for the worldwide LGBTQIA+ community and its advocates. Entertainer Madonna stated in 2024, "Aside from my birthday, New York Pride is the most important day of the year." The route through Lower Manhattan traverses south on Fifth Avenue, through Greenwich Village, passing the Stonewall National Monument, site of the June 1969 riots that launched the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights.
Halloween in the Castro was an annual Halloween celebration held in The Castro district of San Francisco, first held in the 1940s as a neighborhood costume contest. By the late 1970s, it had shifted from a children's event to a gay pride celebration that continued to grow into a massive annual street party in the 2000s.
Halloween on Franklin Street is a yearly tradition in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that encompasses a massive gathering on Franklin Street, the cultural hub of the town. The Halloween celebration began in the early 1980s as a considerably smaller event, involving Chapel Hill residents and college students from The University of North Carolina. Attendees of the event dress up in creative Halloween costumes and walk up and down Franklin Street celebrating the holiday. Since its beginnings, the event had grown in size every year until 2008. Although not sponsored by the Town of Chapel Hill, the celebration has become an attraction for visitors from across the South. Between 2004 and 2007, it was estimated that about 80,000 people converged on Franklin Street for the event, while Chapel Hill is estimated to have a population of 54,492 as listed in the 2007 census, evidence of the number of people who make the trip to Chapel Hill to attend. Because of the size of the celebration, the Town of Chapel Hill closes Franklin Street to all vehicular traffic and prohibits parking anywhere near downtown. Along with the big crowds come safety issues, with some of the biggest concerns being alcohol poisoning and gang-related violence. To deal with these issues, hundreds of police officers patrol the downtown area throughout the entire night. In 2007, approximately 400 police officers were deployed to Franklin Street to ensure that nothing got out of hand. In 2008, the Town of Chapel Hill implemented new measures to attempt to cut down on the size of the Halloween celebration in an action dubbed "Homegrown Halloween" to reduce the crowd size and discourage people from out of town to come to Chapel Hill. The shuttle service that had formerly transported people from park and ride lots to Franklin Street was shut down and the results of Chapel Hill's efforts showed when about 35,000 people showed up for the event.
Sharon Needles is the stage name of Aaron Robert Coady, an American drag performer and recording artist. A self-described "stupid genius, reviled sweetheart, and PBR princess", Needles rose to international attention on the fourth season of the Logo reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, where she quickly became a fan favorite and was subsequently crowned "America's Next Drag Superstar" in April 2012.
Roy R. Haylock, better known by the stage name Bianca Del Rio, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, and costume designer. She is known for winning the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Since her time on Drag Race, Del Rio has written and toured several stand-up shows, including It's Jester Joke (2019), which also made her the first drag queen to headline at Wembley Arena. She has also performed as a host for various international tours, most notably Werq the World. In 2018, she published her first book, Blame It On Bianca Del Rio: The Expert On Nothing With An Opinion On Everything.
Peppermint, or Miss Peppermint, is an American actress, singer, songwriter, television personality, drag queen, and activist. She is best known from the nightlife scene and, in 2017, as the runner-up on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. In 2018, Peppermint made her debut in The Go-Go's-inspired musical Head Over Heels as Pythio, becoming Broadway's first out trans woman to originate a lead role.
New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ+ populations. Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rise buildings, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". LGBT advocate and entertainer Madonna stated metaphorically, "Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer."
Nina West is the stage name of Andrew Robert Levitt, an American drag queen, queer activist, actor, and singer-songwriter based in Columbus, Ohio. She rose to national prominence with her appearance on the eleventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race, where she placed sixth and won Miss Congeniality. In 2024, she competed in season 9 of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. She was named the Top Local Artist of 2019 by Columbus Underground. Levitt has also created three EPs—Drag Is Magic, John Goodman, and The West Christmas Ever, which were all released in 2019.
The twelfth season of RuPaul's Drag Race premiered on February 28 and concluded on May 29, 2020. The competition was broadcast on VH1 in the United States and saw 13 new queens competing for the title of "America's Next Drag Superstar". VH1 renewed both RuPaul's Drag Race and its spin-off RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars for a twelfth and fifth season respectively on August 19, 2019. At the time of the renewal the Drag Race franchise had earned VH1 a total of 14 Emmy nominations. Casting calls were opened in January 2019 while the cast was revealed by season 11 winner Yvie Oddly on January 23, 2020.
Gigi Goode is an American drag queen and reality television personality known for being a runner-up on the twelfth season of the drag competition series RuPaul's Drag Race. Following her appearance on Drag Race, Goode was cast in the Drive 'N Drag concert series, appeared in multiple music videos, and participated in a Savage X Fenty fashion show. In 2020, she received a People's Choice Award in the Competition Contestant category. Originally from, Illinois, Goode attended Millikin University and, as of 2020, lives in Los Angeles.
In Washington, D.C., LGBT culture is heavily influenced by the U.S. federal government and the many nonprofit organizations headquartered in the city.
Kade Gottlieb, better known as Gottmik, is an American drag performer and make-up artist. Gottmik was the first trans man to compete on RuPaul's Drag Race, coming in shared 3rd/4th place on the thirteenth season with fellow contestant Rosé. Gottmik later returned to compete in the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Gottmik co-hosts the podcast No Gorge alongside Violet Chachki.
Charity Kase is the stage name of Harry Whitfield, a drag performer most known for competing on the third series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK.
