OVER MEET DRAG KINGS CODE

Want to read more from Broadview? Consider subscribing to one of our newsletters.īut the fear of persecution didn’t extinguish drag. From the 1950s to the ’90s, the federal government investigated and fired queer people in public service jobs. After that, the police continued to use “indecency laws” to charge gay men and women.

OVER MEET DRAG KINGS CODE

Canada’s Criminal Code labelled homosexual people as “dangerous sexual offenders” and lumped them in with “criminal sexual psychopaths.” It was illegal to be gay until 1969. But it wasn’t long before governments and mainstream heteronormative culture came to see both drag and its practitioners as a threat to their status quo.ĭecades of criminalization and repression in the 1900s chased drag and queer culture underground in North America. By the 1920s, drag had become a significant part of queer culture: a playful, fun, joyous, subversive performance style. In its most basic terms, drag consists of dressing and performing as a character of a gender different from one’s own outside of drag, and it’s a tradition that dates back centuries in the performing arts. Young queer people living outside of major cities have a space to express themselves and practise their art, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the path-beating generation of queens who refused to let drag disappear and who continue to keep the community grounded in its roots. Performances can be found across the country, from Yellowknife to Thunder Bay, Ont., to Trois-Riviéres, Que. Other small Canadian centres are experiencing a drag resurgence, too.

“Things have changed in the world of drag,” says Tyff. Young performers and organizers get paid by both venues and fans, who come with cash to tip. A cast of regular performers appear multiple times a month alongside a growing set of newcomer queens, kings and non-binary artists. Incredibly, her dedication paid off, and Kingston’s drag scene has grown to be well known and supportive. She stayed home to fight for her spot centre stage. Most of the people don’t really appreciate us.”īut Tyff didn’t leave.

He eventually returned, but he’ll never forget why he left: “Living in Saskatchewan, our government doesn’t like us here. Ryan Young, who performs in drag as China White, moved from Saskatoon to New York City in the early 2000s. Many drag artists who start off in smaller centres across Canada opt to move to bigger, more supportive markets with established queer scenes, such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Outside of drag, Tyffanie Morgan is named Jim Puckalo. For nearly two decades, few bars would host her shows since most didn’t want to be known as a gay bar if they did, they often wouldn’t pay her, though sometimes Tyffanie would charge a cover fee. In the early 2000s, before RuPaul’s Drag Race would help turn a queer community staple into a pop culture phenomenon, Tyffanie, who is 43, was virtually the only queen in Kingston. Jas had no idea at the time, but the phrase would sustain Tyff through some tough years. She recognized that the salty phrase was rooted in friendship, support and trust, and her witty resilience was one of the many things she passed on to her protegé, Tyffanie. Jas immediately took to the playful heckle and turned it into a tradition to empower the drag community in this city of 132,000. After she asked a packed bar how everyone was doing, a friend cheekily shouted these words. It started when Jas Morgan, Tyffanie’s drag mother (the loving term given to older queens who mentor the next generation), was performing in the 1990s. This response is a regional quirk, and while seemingly crass, it represents an important piece of the city’s drag history. Others giggle and whisper to their friends. Some new attendees of the event, held in August 2022, look around bewildered.

Sporting a blue wig and a flowing cream-coloured Grecian dress, the drag queen asks, “How are we doing tonight, Kingston?” Most of the 60 or so people in the room yell back: “F*** you, b****!” Tyffanie Morgan stands onstage in a dimly lit craft brewery in downtown Kingston, Ont.

Over meet drag kings