16 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | MAYHEM
Qsaltlake.com | ISSUE 310 | April, 2020
MATRONS OF MAYHEM Bring Drag Bingo and Fun to Salt Lake City to Raise Money for Charities BY MICHAEL AARON, AKA PANSY PAP SMEAR PHOTOS BY BRAD MONTGOMERY
While Drag Bingo is only recently sweeping the nation, it has been around for nearly two decades in the Salt Lake Valley. Yes, those over-the-top, tell-it-like-it-is, men-dressedas-women plucking balls from the bingo cage have been in the land of Zion for a very long time.
These aren’t your typical “trying to be pretty women” drag queens. These “girls” do what is known as camp drag — where they leave the facial hair (though often bespeckled with glitter), eschew “tucking,” and make no pretense that they look, sound, or act like the fairer sex. The current definition of camp drag is “an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value.” Yup. Sounds about right. The Matrons of Mayhem host Third Friday Drag Bingo on the … third Fridays … of the month raising money for a variety of charities, from animal rescues to health and arts organizations at First
Baptist Church, kitty-corner from East High School. They also do a First Sunday bingo at Club Try-Angles and act as hostesses for the Big Gay Fun Bus. And, of course, you will find them in all their gloriousness at Utah Pride and other local Pride Festivals, as well as Q Lagoon Day and the streets of Park City during the Sundance Film Festival. They’ve also participated in fundraising events for the Utah Stonewall Democrats, who often take up a full table at the monthly bingos, and Salt Lake Acting Company. “We tend to be very selective with what we call ‘outside events,’” said
