7/25/2023 0 Comments Move over drag kings![]() The economic recession began a decade before Hurricane María, and has no doubt worsened. It's important to note that, while likeminded movements in Berlin, Atlanta, New York City, and elsewhere have flourished, sustaining a queer drag scene in a debt-addled island presents its own unique hurdles. Originally concentrated around the University of Puerto Rico's flagship campus in Río Piedras (many of the performers are students there), the queer drag scene has since expanded exponentially, and so has the drag king faction within it. Rhinestone-heavy, pageant-style gowns rarely make an appearance. ![]() ![]() Blocking brows isn't a given for anyone (though plenty performers do it, and well), and looks run the gamut from avant-garde to casual-cool. You might see a nonbinary artist engage the crowd in an emotive performance art piece. The burgeoning scene represents what is truly great about queer drag - that literally anyone is welcome to participate.Īt any given event, you might see a cis gay man as a bearded queen in heels, or a cis queer woman donning chest hair and a push-up bra might pull audience members up for one-on-one lap dances. That was only two months after the first-ever all drag king show on the island, while the queer drag movement was developing with all-encompassing inclusivity of gender identities, sexualities, body types, and performance styles. For one, Jo didn't lip sync along to male vocals, instead opting for "You and I" as an homage to Lady Gaga, whose Jo Calderone character at the 2011 VMAs was an inspiration. Molly Jo debuted just over a year ago as a leather-clad werewolf in a Halloween show, and from the start, it was all quite queer. "I just put a little mascara, and it looks beautiful," they laugh. Growing up in Puerto Rico, Génesis Castro Cruz was teased for their facial hair, for being a girl with "too much of a mustache." Today, at 22 years old, they wholly embrace it: In personifying Molly Jo - a queer drag persona, the embodiment of Castro Cruz at their most extreme - they've come to love the fuzz.
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