SEATTLE — During PRIDE month, KIRO 7 has covered amazing stories like Seattle Men’s Chorus, Lavender Rights Project, and Seattle Pride interns. We now take you behind the lives of a Drag King and Queen!
“I feel like that’s the best thing in the world to be able to remove people’s problems even if it’s just for that three minutes that you’re out there,” Drag King, Caesar Hart said.
Behind all the glitz, glamour, sparkles, and shine is the art of drag. Julia’s on Broadway has been hosting performances for over two decades. According to Owner/Director/Producer, Eladio Preciado, they’re the longest-running show in Washington history.
“The secret sauce… I’m never going to tell, but the secret is you listen to what people want, and then you create. I’m very creative and I want to hear what you like, what is it that entertains you, and then from that I’m going to create something that targets my customer base,” Preciado said.
But drag, though it seems to put smiles on faces and entertain, is not always glamourous.
“Whenever you’re having people out there in their day-to-day lives wearing makeup, etc., and you have everyone wanting to attack these individuals, these people are just trying to be (themselves),” Drag Queen Versace Doll said.
“We’re not doing anything different than what you’re seeing on TV or music videos and we dial it down, we could be up there with that but we’re not,” Hart said.
Versace Doll and Caesar suggest coming to a performance first, then making your own decision. They stress the opposition against the drag community is heartbreaking, and dangerous.
“The ban on drag is just leading to people saying, ‘Trans people shouldn’t be around children, they shouldn’t adopt,’ and it just needs to change, it’s not right. Trans women have been here forever, people of color have been here forever, drag kings have been here forever we’re not going anywhere,” Versace Doll said.
Continuing to be themselves regardless of the pushback, the freedom of not hiding who you are, and bringing awareness to LGBTQIA rights, is what keeps Versace Doll and Caesar going. Their safe space at Julia’s makes that happen.
“When I created this, I thought I’m going to create something that’s fun for me, a toy basically, and then one day I realized I created something that I didn’t think I could do, and what it is, is a magical place with magical people and we create happiness,” Preciado said.
Versace Doll and Caesar will be announcers at this year’s PRIDE parade on Sunday. You can catch the Parade kicking off at Westlake Park at 11 a.m.
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