My Drag Queen History

My Drag Queen History

It’s not long, or sordid and it’s definitely not dangerous to children. No, in fact my drag queen history is quite forgettable.

My Drag Queen History and the Death of Mary Quant

I can only think of two times that I dressed up in drag. The first time, it was for a halloween party at a friends house.

It was Saturday, October 27, 1990. I think. Thaddeus and I had been invited to a halloween party at John and Michael’s. We knew three gay couples named John and Michael, but this was the one who lived in Lambertville, NJ.

We had spent the day moving into our new house. It was the first and only home we’ve owned. And we were physically and emotionally exhausted. We decided to bail on the party. So we called our friends Bob and Alan to let them know we wouldn’t be going with them…we hadn’t unpacked any costumes and we were beat. They said absolutely not! We would come to their house, and they would dress us both up for the party and drive us there.

When we got to Bob and Alan’s, they had decided Thaddeus would go as Reba McEntire. I don’t have a photo, but picture a red gingham checked dress made out of a vinyl picnic table cloth with fringe at the bottom, white cowboy boots and a big-hair red wig. Thaddeus looked hideously funny.

For me, they opted for the totally groovy, Mary Quant outfit. Short, mini-dress, high-heel sandals and a perky short-cut brunette wig. I honestly didn’t know that a photo of this existed until recently.

QueerJoe in Drag age 31
31 year-old QueerJoe dressed as Mary Quant – Photo credit Michael Dessoye

You can see a small section of Thaddeus’s tablecloth-dress and red wig next to me.

Side-Note on Drag Costume

Michael and John gave out prizes for costumes that night…funniest, scariest, most creative, etc. They gave out LOTS of prizes. And I didn’t get one. John explained to me later that when they were considering me for a prize, everyone deciding just kept say…he just looks like a girl. I had to agree.

Subsequent Drag History

The only other drag queen history was a brief dress-up at Easton Mountain (where there is a whole room full of clothes and accessories to play with).

MSKR 2018 - Joe Drag

I know…I’m no George Santos (“Kitara”), but I’m also glad for all of my experiences as a human.

Current Knitting

I distracted by a couple of administrative tasks that needed to be done. But I still made some progress on the Rios Slip Stitch Afghan.

I’m almost finished with 3 of the 10 stripes. I have to say, I’m very impressed with Malabrigo Rios as a yarn. Very soft and the colors are really spectacular.

6 comments on “My Drag Queen History

  1. I remember that retreat! You looked stunning! All you need is a shawl. Now whom do you know who could make you a shawl? Hmmmmmm.

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