PIC BY KELVIN LEE GRAY - OH MY MEDIA
34 Scene
the LGBT. It’s no surprise that there has been an astronomical rise in hate crimes against gay people after we’ve had three to four years of concerted vilification of trans people. Bigots don’t care about your identity, they just care that you’re different. What’s happening is, you are making us all a target. All of us! Which queer person from history would you most like to have met? I think I would like to have met Freddie Mercury. An apologetic bisexual icon. What advice do you think Drag Race fans need to hear? The advice that the Drag Race fans need to hear is that… it’s an entertainment show! A SHOW! It’s not reality. People on the show are just doing their thing. You can have your feelings and thoughts about it, you can even put those online, what you don’t need to do is tag those people or write negativity on their posts. You don’t need to put that out into the world. It’s not that serious, it’s drag.
10 QUESTIONS WITH... DIVINA DE CAMPO
Jason Reid puts 10 questions to seasoned British drag queen and Drag Race UK favourite, Divina De Campo – a consummate queen through and through who is currently part of a star-studded UK tour of Chicago: The Musical. They’ve also proven time and time that they’re much more than just a red wig and a silver dress with their outspoken views on politics and LGBTQ+ issues ) Congrats on the Chicago gig! Apart from
the essentials, what will you keep in your dressing room? It’s an actual dream come true for me. In my dressing room I will keep a steamer, my brush roll, some lemon and ginger teabags, and a LOT of moisturiser. I don’t really have a great deal of mementos/keepsakes; I’ve got my wedding ring, a Tiffany bracelet that my husband Paul bought me, and a little Hounds for Huntington dog which raises awareness of Huntington’s disease. I take that with me wherever I go and take pictures with it. How does your art intertwine with your activism and do you ever feel like you have to rein in your activism?
My art absolutely intertwines with my activism because most of what I’m making is about queer people and our experiences in the world… and also just a bit of filth and fun. I do have to rein in the activism side of stuff from time to time because otherwise people think oh she’s just gonna be a boring miserable cow, whereas most of what I put onstage is about having a good time. In your opinion, what are the greatest challenges facing LGBTQ+ people today, and how can we overcome them together? The biggest threat to LGBTQ+ people at the moment is the concerted effort from the mainstream media and from the evangelical church and far right, to separate the T from
“I do have to rein in the activism side of stuff from time to time because otherwise people think oh she’s just gonna be a boring miserable cow, whereas most of what I put onstage is about having a good time” Who are your living role models? Kristin Chenoweth and Dolly Parton. Most of my role models are personal ones; my singing teacher from school, my dance lecturer, and a few other teachers – those are the people who have done amazing, incredible things in my life and then been really generous with their time. If there was a general election tomorrow, how would you vote? At this moment, honestly, I don’t know. There is such a swathe of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in so many of the parties right now, and I don’t see that much clear leadership from those at the top. The people who are supposed to come in and tear apart the corrupt system that’s currently in charge have not done that. I just don’t see any of that happening with who’s there at the moment. So, I don’t know who I’d vote for. Not Tory. What are the three most important things that you think politicians need to focus on in order to create a fairer and more equal society? OK, this is hard. I think the first thing that needs to happen is tax reform, and by that I mean we need to tax people who earn lots and lots more money than people who don’t. Whenever anyone talks about America’s
