A piping-hot barrel curl springs free from the clamp of your curling iron.
Do these actions have consequences for you?
Chances are, no.
Putting on makeup or styling our hair is a daily routine for many of us, especially cisgender women.
Gender-affirming health care for transgender youth has beenbanned in 19 statesand is up for consideration in 12 others.
For LGBTQ+ people and their allies, times are even tougher than usual.
The series eighth season, which premiered on May 12, is in full swing.
Its nothing the casts 12 members havent seen or done before.
Our freedoms are something we always have to fight for.
Representing drag and trans women was more important, given the circumstances.
We have so much exposure and so much celebration that people are afraid.
Jimbo, a contestant from the first season ofCanadas Drag RaceandRuPauls Drag Race UK vs The World, agrees.
I can’t allow myself to live in fear because that will destroy my happiness.
Its not the glittering makeup or towering hair that begets such fear.
Its the people who benefit from the empowerment of the glitz and the glam.
When Dustin Hoffman does [drag inTootsie], no one says anything.
When Tyler Perry does it, no one says anything.
When Martin Lawrence is in drag, nobody says anything, says Naysha Lopez ofDrag Races eighth season.
As Jaymes Mansfield from season nine elaborates, That was seen as core harmless entertainment.
But the second its queer, it’s a problem.
You become, really, a superhero.
It’s an otherworldly feeling.
It may shake some feathers, but that is exactly what we do.
For season 13 Miss Congeniality LaLa Ri, its the false lashes that pull it all together.
It just makes me feel like I can do anything.
Heidi N Closet, season 12s Miss Congeniality, finds strength in embracing the culture of Black women.
So I love to express my culture and my hair.
I lovea good braid.
I love a good Afro.
Ooh, I love an Afro.
I just think the politicians might be jealous because we get to wear pretty things and they can’t.
Darienne Lake fromDrag Races sixth season works as a professional hairstylist when shes not doing drag.
The vivacity that comes with glamour is something she witnesses in each and every one of her clients.
They just feel confident.
And then they can feel that power.
When drag queens have power, everyone has power, especially the LGBTQ+ community.
That makes keeping the status quo much harder for conservative lawmakers.
And it all starts with the same swipe of lipstick or dusting ofsetting powder.
I’m a plus-size brown man, and the world is not built for me to win.
If you’re not going to create the road for me, then I’ll create it myself.
As a family, we’re going to make a change.
She used to watch the show late at night in secret when it made its debut in 2009.
She was 15 years old and didnt even know what drag was.
I just remember being so seen, she says.
It gave me hope to get out of the city I was in and do something with myself.
Drag is theater, art, comedy, and performance all wrapped into one universally entertaining package.
That endless reach is exactly whyAll Stars 8might be the most important season ofDrag Raceto date.
When people hear, Oh, they’re banning drag.
Well, I’m not going to be able to do it now, Kahanna says.
We have to show them that, if anything, we’re going to go even higher.
If you’re open with who you are, they can’t shame you.
It’s just an exhausting topic.
It’s an exhausting way of living, Kandy says.
Does the threat of violence deter these queens from speaking their truth?
I remember having this moment of like, How am I going to live my dream in this?
We are in a similarly scary time, maybe more so, says Alexis.
At the beginning of the gay rights movement, drag was activism.
And here, yet again, we find ourselves in that place.
But drag is eternal.
Its influence has permeated every crevice of modern popular culture.
It’s easy to look at all the glitz and glam and think that it’s false.
But there are deeply feeling, deeply historied people underneath all that glitter.
That influence, of course, goes far beyond pop stars.
(Aucoin was also anAllurecontributor and created many of his most memorable looks right here.)
[His] makeup style, all that came from the drag queen friends that he had…
He just did it on supermodels and it became supermodel makeup, says Jaymes.
We’re finally just getting the credit we deserve.
Because drag queens are clever.
We cant deny that.
We come up with some pretty good shit.
Legislators might take a stab at limit its presence but drag can never truly be erased.
As far as Naysha is concerned, its the backbone of the queer community.
It’s not right or wrong.
It’s just yours.
(Usually followed by, Can I get an amen?
RuPaul is an ordained minister.)
As in many struggles for freedom and equality, love is drags ultimate superpower.
