DC Indy Media
D.C.: Home of Drag Kings
12 Nov 2003
D.C. is a hot spot for Drag King performances, part of a world wide trend. Several hundred screaming fans fill D.C.'s Club Chaos the first Wednesday of every month to cheer their favorite Kings.
The number of Drag Kings in D.C., and their popularity, has grown enormously since the first shows in 1995. Kinging is a vital aspect of queer life, according to Omega, a Drag King for over 3 years.
[ I need this. It's more than just an outlet, it's more than therapy, it's more than coming out, more than performing, more than five minutes. You don't want a part of the community to choke. If you don't have that outlet you feel like you're being smothered or strangled or something like that. Chaos provides that outlet. ]
The D.C. Drag Kings are an eclectic bunch with a variety of gender identities, from high-femme women, to butch lesbians, to transgender men. Woofy is a newer member...
[ First time I seen 'em I was like these are my brothers... everybody supports each other... getting on the stage and having the audience and your brothers backing you up, it's nothing like you can describe unless you been there! (Omega's voice)... It is a brotherhood or a fraternity because come people are in it more for the performance, some people are more in it for the self-expression, but we all understand why each of us is there even if we have diferent personalities on that stage... ]
Cheryl Spector helped to start the Drag King tradition in D.C.
[ Drag queens brought me out. I was in the drag bars since 1982, '83 when I first came out as a lesbian and the drag queens were the most wonderful people I ever knew. They did wonderful things for the community, they're beautiful and glamorous and I thought why can't we be beautiful and glamorous too. I think now kings are showing up at a lot more places. ]
Ken Las Vegas, another founder of the D.C. Kings, says beyond fun and self-expression, drag shows push people to reconsider their ideas of gender...
[ When a drag king walks on the stage they're owning masculinity, they're not asking permission from a man to dress as a man, they're doing it because they want to. That's maybe a very controversial statement; why would you want to dress like the oppressor? Sometimes you have to embrace what oppresses you and walk in those shoes. I didn't ask you for this permssion, I'm doing it because I want to, and that's very powerful. The chaos stage is open to pretty much everybody, it's almost a laboratory of gender, seeing how people can figure out different ways of expressing themselves, almost to the poiont where they're coming up with gender expressions we never even knew were possible. ]
Over 200 Drag Kings have performed in D.C.
To learn more go to the next D.C. Kings show [Wednesday Dec 3 at Club Chaos] or visit www.dckings.com
[ D.C. Kings rule! D.C. Kings rock! If you want to come out for the D.C. Kings, second Wednesday of every month is our new kings meeting, we welcome everybody to come out. First Wednesday of every month we perform, and I hope to see yall out. (Rockie's voice) ...and like Madonna says, express yourself! ]
For Metrowatch this is Darby Hickey
