“How drag queens have snatched the political spotlight in the Trump era” is The Washington Post title but you’d have to scroll down the website page to find the story which is in the Style section.
You may have missed they story when it broke and got lots of publicity two weeks ago. I did even though it was posted in the Arts and Entertainment section on Nov. 13th: Drag queen Pissi Myles causes a stir with unexpected appearance at the impeachment hearings. It might have been on the main page but I usually scan the entire page and did’t see it.
There was an interview with NBC News which I also missed.
So as a service to Daily Kos readers I am posting a story about it here.
I know most of you don’t have online subscriptions to the Post so here is an excerpt:
Two days later (after AOC appeared in the gallery), in another Washington mash-up of work and werk, drag queen Pissi Myles clacked down the halls of the Longworth Building in shiny red pumps. Myles was there as a journalist and commentator, covering the impeachment for live-streaming, crowdsourced news company Happs, though she quickly became a story herself: It’s not often that a drag queen sashays her way through Official Washington, at 6 feet 8 inches in heels and a wig, serving looks and political analysis in equal measure. The following week, she was reporting again, this time from the spin room at the Democratic debate in Atlanta.
Drag and politics have always been intertwined, ever since the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York, where drag queens and transgender women, notably the performer Marsha P. Johnson, were among the foremothers of the gay rights movement. And in the lead-up to 2020, with drag enjoying more mainstream popularity than ever before, drag queens are becoming a perfect foil to President Trump.
“In the queer community — and this is something that a more broad audience might not know — drag queens are kind of looked at as community leaders and mouthpieces,” said Myles. They “ride out first with their sword in the air.”
The act of dressing in drag has long been a political statement — it’s an act of rebellion against societal norms, and an art form that elevates the voices of disenfranchised communities. And as drag has attracted a new, mainstream audience — one that might see it purely as entertainment — there have been efforts to make the connection more overt.
Oddly, this story was off The Washington Post front page a half hour after I saw it this morning. It is an interesting question why the website editors decided to put it there earlier last night especially since it is a two week old story.
Read the comments to this tweet from Heidi Przybyla of NBC News:
Here are a few stories you can read without a subscription, because you did click on this and are still reading so I know you are interested….
This is an interview: Why Pissi Myles Sissyed That Walk to Trump’s Impeachment Hearing — "It was the coolest thing I think I've ever done."
This is a two week old story which was in the New York Post (Drag queen Pissi Myles shocked she was ‘most interesting’ part of impeachment hearings) on Nov. 13th and The Guardian on the 14th: Drag queen Pissi Myles slays at impeachment inquiry, causing congressional splash -— Myles was feeling the fantasy in a scarlet dress, stilettos and a blonde coiffure: ‘I’ve been called Ruby Giuliani. It’s a little offensive’.
There are two videos in The Daily Mail story.
There wasn't much mainstream media coverage after the “event” as far as I can tell, although the conservative Rupert Murdoch New York Post had at least two stories and Breitbart had at least one.
Above:
Pissi Myles — wearing a sequin dress, a huge blonde wig and jewels — joined the gaggle of reporters after the debate and asked Sen. Kamala Harris about Transgender Day of Remembrance, which she said was observed Wednesday.
“I have a long history of working on this. And to your point today, black trans women are under attack,” Harris told Myles, who was reporting for HappsNews.
“They are being hunted. And we’ve got to address this in very real way,” she added. New York Post
In this strangest of strange presidencies where an inflated ballon of a diapered baby being attacked by a supporter of a president can make headlines, why not a flamboyant drag queen?
If you want to find more stories search Pissi Myles on Google News.
I am reminded of the disruptive protests of Code Pink members at various hearings which probably hurt more than they helped, however what Pissi did was a quiet protest. No words were necessary. Do you think protests like this help or hurt? Please comment.