At a time when they’re under attack from their state and federal governments, LGBTQ+ and especially transgender Texans have found solace in Drag University.
Houston-based Drag University is “a free program that taught Black and Latino Texans not only how to lip sync and put together an outfit, but how to navigate life in a state that has long led the way in curtailing LGBTQ+ rights,” reports The Washington Post, which recently profiled Drag U and its participants. The eight students in this summer’s session were “working-class queer people in their 20s and 30s who were trying to find meaning and power through drag,” the Post notes.
They varied in other ways, however. Syca’Ru, an androgynous person, identifies as “a drag thing.” Berry Kay, a cisgender woman, sought to channel “the divine feminine.” Chloe Montgomery is a trans woman who had started estrogen treatment a year ago and found it enhanced her life greatly, but she wanted to find a community, which she found in Drag U.
In addition to instruction from local organizers, they received some training from well-known drag performers, such as A’Keria Chanel Davenport from RuPaul’s Drag Race and pageant queen Jazell Barbie Royale. They also got legal advice on name changes from a Harris County judge, Lillian Alexander.
Ian L. Haddock, founder and executive director of the Normal Anomaly Initiative, which organized Drag U, acknowledged it’s a hard time for LGBTQ+ organizations, what with Donald Trump’s defunding of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and opposition to drag and trans identities. Plus Texas legislators have introduced dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ bills this year, including one that would make transitioning a crime, which did not pass. But he wanted to make the program’s graduation weekend all about celebration.
For graduation, each student got $250 to spend on an outfit. Montgomery had already bought a $25 floral dress that she could barely afford on her $16.50 an hour wages, but she knew that was what she wanted to perform in for graduation.
She lip-synched to Beyoncé’s “Dance for You.” Afterward, recording a video about why drag is important to her, she said, “I am trying to find who I am. And in finding myself, I am able to become the most powerful version of myself, a version who is free, who is unapologetic. And that makes me feel great because the little version of myself was too afraid to be seen.”
She also adopted the name Yamore. “Chloe Yamore means ‘Chloe, I love you,’” she said in her recording. “I love you enough to go for it even though I’m afraid.”
Emboldened by Drag U, she decided to come out as a woman at work and to her family and friends. She also wore her dress outside of Drag U for the first time.
This article originally appeared on Advocate: Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ Texans find joy and hope at Drag University