Happy Pride, everyone!
Dan Jones attempts to document the 50 most important drag queens who have changed the world. For each queen, he writes a couple of paragraphs about their accomplishments and impact on the world and there’s a cute illustration from Michele Rosenthal of each performer. This is admittedly a herculean undertaking, and Jones gives it a good go. On the whole, he does fine.
There seems to be a concerted effort to not just include contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race on this list which I appreciate. Out of the fifty entries on this list, only 10 (including Ru herself) are Ru-girls. Jones also included some assigned-female-at-birth drag performers, some neurodivergent drag artists, and mix of races and ethnicities. There is a pretty decent mix of backgrounds, and I was introduced to quite a few new drag personas and performers.
The biggest gripe that I have with this book is that there is no mention of Marsha P. Johnson or Sylvia Rivera. At all. These two individuals are Black and Latinx drag queens and trans activists who started the Stonewall Riots thus kickstarting the gay rights movement. That feels like an important change to the world. And yet, a white drag performer who performed for two years in blackface is included.
In a few years, I hope that this list gets updated with the next group of world-changing drag queens. Those queens have probably already started performing at your local clubs, bars, and theaters. Go support them.
And finally, remember that the first Pride celebration was a riot.
