Get Out! GAY Magazine – Issue 300 – January 24, 2017
Featuring content from the hottest gay and gay-friendly spots in New York, each (free!) issue of Get Out! highlights the bars, nightclubs, restaurants, spas and other businesses throughout NYC’s metropolitan area that the city’s gay population is interested in.
Featuring content from the hottest gay and gay-friendly spots in New York, each (free!) issue of Get Out! highlights the bars, nightclubs, restaurants, spas and other businesses throughout NYC’s metropolitan area that the city’s gay population is interested in.
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Julie Andrews, Audrey Hepburn. I just<br />
idolize them.<br />
Are you a Broadway queen?<br />
I’m such a show queen! I’m an old<br />
show queen.<br />
What’s the one moment that you<br />
had that changed the trajectory of<br />
your life?<br />
There were two really. I always say that<br />
Halloween is the gateway drug to drag.<br />
That’s where everybody starts. That’s<br />
the night of the year that men feel<br />
that they have permission to express<br />
themselves that way. I think that<br />
probably nine out of 10 queens started<br />
on Halloween. So that’s how it started<br />
many years ago. This year it will be 14<br />
years since my first paid gigs, which<br />
were at Stonewall and The Monster.<br />
The thing that I think really kicked<br />
things in the high gear was more<br />
recently. It was about three years ago.<br />
I went through some big life changes,<br />
and all of a sudden I had some spare<br />
time on my hands and dove headfirst<br />
into doing full-time drag.<br />
I never met a queen that I didn’t like.<br />
Oh, I have.<br />
What kind of impression do you<br />
think you have left thus far on the<br />
world?<br />
My goal was always to entertain. That’s<br />
the #1 thing. I want people to have<br />
fun. I want not just to distract them<br />
from their real lives, but even embrace<br />
it, take the bad with the good, and<br />
make the most of it. I remember one<br />
of my favorite quotes was when Hedda<br />
Lettuce said, “If life hands you lemons,<br />
make lemonade, and if you add a little<br />
vodka to it, you’re all set.” Sometimes<br />
it’s about just putting a different<br />
outlook. I find myself having to do<br />
that a lot. I had my first show after the<br />
election, the very next night. I wasn’t<br />
in the mood to do a show myself, but<br />
I said, “I gotta do this. The people<br />
need it.” It saved me that night, and<br />
it saved everybody there. It was just<br />
what the doctor ordered. Like I said,<br />
I’m an entertainer. That’s the mark I<br />
want to leave on people. I also want to<br />
leave them, especially with the climate<br />
today, leave them maybe a little more<br />
thoughtful. I call myself a clown,<br />
entertainer and activist, and it doesn’t<br />
hurt that I look stunningly gorgeous.<br />
(cont.)
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