Tip your queens: How coronavirus closures are upending the drag industry

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‘RuPaul's DragRace’ stars sasha_velour, NinaWest, shotwithsoju, Dahlia_Sin, and local queens and kings share how COVID-19 lockdowns have dragged down the world's most fabulous industry.

“There is no union for drag queens. There are no protections for us. There’s no minimum pay,” she says. “How much does a queen have to do to get the financial respect or due or benefits? We have no health benefits. We’ve been seen as these activist clowns of the community. Entertain me, kick down a door or two, but your value then ceases.

For transmasculine, nonbinary, Brooklyn-based drag king Vigor Mortis, donations from strangers — like those West eventually hopes to facilitate — are, at present, his only source of income, as he lost around $2,000 over nixed shows in March. Even amid his own struggles, Mortis, also a hospice volunteer, admits he feels a greater sense of “panic” over not being able to help others — particularly people of color — whom “the system has fully abandoned” even before the pandemic. Like West, Mortis sees drag as a tool to help rally the community in times of need.

“If someone supports local queens, they can follow them on social media and champion them there and when they return to the stage,” suggests Work. “Especially with the postponement of RuPaul’s DragCon LA, I think now more than ever is a great time for people to treat themselves by purchasing the merchandise they would have picked up at the annual event. Ask for an autograph with the item to make it special. Order a personalized Cameo video and tune into virtual drag shows.

 

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