Taylor ALXNDR: THE BUSIEST DRAG QUEEN IN ATLANTA

Editor’s note: Taylor ALXNDR’s pronouns are she/they. Both are used throughout the article.

When you think of queer spaces in Atlanta, from drag shows to community events, there’s a good chance Southern Fried Queer Pride (SFQP) is behind it. You probably also think of Taylor ALXNDR. It’s impossible to imagine Atlanta drag without her. She’s a community organizer, drag performer, singer/songwriter, and proud, “quintessential” Aquarius. As the mother of House of ALXNDR and co-founder of SFQP, Taylor stays busy.

Taylor ALXNDR moved to Atlanta for school in 2011 from Griffin, Georgia. At Georgia State, Taylor joined student organizations, like the Alliance for Gender and Sexual Diversity. At the same time, she immersed herself in the Atlanta LGBTQ community.

“It was a light bulb moment for me … I didn’t know what drag was until I moved to the city,” she told Georgia Voice. “I didn’t even know what transgender meant until I moved to the city.”

It wasn’t long before Friends on Ponce and Mary’s exposed her to the art of drag, where she was “quickly surrounded by all of this drag talent.” Soon, she began performing.

Three years after they moved to Atlanta, Taylor co-founded SFQP with Mickaela Bradford because they “didn’t see a lot of spaces that honored the intersectionality of being queer and Black in the South … It was a few backyard parties and meetups, and then we wanted to do a three-day festival. So, we did.”

The festival took place in queer spaces across Atlanta, including Broad Street and Little Five Points.

“Over the years, we’ve grown into a nonprofit organization and a family,” Taylor said of SFQP, which has become a nonprofit, community organization group focused on uplifting and supporting queer and trans artists in the city and increasing accessibility of safe spaces for all.

“People look to us for community,” they said. “It comes with a lot of responsibility and a lot of love … A lot of people don’t have pride in being from the South, either because of historical context or the stigma around how we’re treated in the LGBTQ community. [The South] is often written off as a conservative hellscape … With SFQP, we wanted to uplift and center being Southern. We wanted to uplift and center the arts, and how it can be a tool to organize and build a community. We wanted to create spaces we didn’t see, like spaces that cater to Black and brown people, people that don’t want to go to the bars, people under 21, and so on.”

According to The Williams Institute, 35 percent of the LGBTQ population resides in the South.

“We’ve had our own riots and historical moments.,” Taylor said. “We have our own icons and legends. We’re in a very unique part of the country.”

Along with SFQP, Taylor’s drag house, House of ALXNDR, also uplifts trans and queer voices.

With Molly Rimswell and SZN ALXNDR, Taylor created House of ALXNDR in 2018.

As of 2023, Aries ALXNDR, Fortuna Fiasco, Ivana ALXNDR, Canzara Szn, and Mr. Elle Aye (Taylor’s fiancé) have joined the family.

“Everyone in the House comes from marginalized communities,” Taylor said. “Many members are Black, so we want to highlight Southern, Black, queer voices. All of us are trans, so we want to center and uplift trans and nonbinary people ... We think the party is political. Music, drag, and burlesque are political ... That’s intentional. We were intentional from the get-go.”

Since its inception, House of ALXNDR has hosted unique events, including drag wrestling competitions and drag political debates.

“We want to bring drag to places you wouldn’t think exist,” Taylor said. “We want to create spaces that are unique and intersectional.”

As Executive Director of SFQP, Taylor’s got her sights set next on a community center for the LGBTQ community in Atlanta: the Clutch Community Space.

“We wanted a center that was open during the day, to everyone, where you can do anything from accessing resources to workshops to social events,” they said.

So far, SFQP has raised over $200,000 toward the center. Donations can be made on their website: southernfriedqueerpride.com/donate. Learn more at southernfriedqueerpride.com/ clutch-community-space

In addition to her work with SFQP and House of ALXNDR, Taylor is also a passionate musician. She taught herself how to produce music in 2014, which allowed her to team up with Chicago-based production team FUTUREHOOD in 2016 to release her first singles, including “Nightwork.” Since then, she has released two EPs: Hologram (2018) and 1993 (2022).

“I see every aspect of my artistry as political,” they said. “When you take up space and exist as yourself, it’s inherently political.”

Hopefully, she said, a full-length album will be out next year.

Taylor credits her success and support to her community, and her mission is to expand that community into visibility like you’ve never seen in the South. She runs several shows on Edgewood, including its longest running show, Amen!, every first and third Thursday at Sister Louisa’s Church, as well as Switch, a monthly queer pop-up show at My Sister’s Room. For more information on Taylor and her many endeavors, follow them on Instagram @tayloralxndr.