Silencing Art Orlando drag events canceled

Lex Schatten and Shayne Watson

ORLANDO | Central Florida drag performer Tora Himan has regularly hosted drag bingo and trivia nights throughout Central Florida since 2019. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she still held her events virtually.

Now, due to attacks on drag queens across the country from conservatives and Republican legislation to label drag performances as “adult live entertainment” introduced in the Florida House, Himan is seeing her drag gigs being cancelled.

“I have just one show a week instead of being booked about six nights a week,” she says. One location where Himan hosted a weekly drag event was at Main House Market, a kombucha bar in Winter Garden. Last month, Main House Market posted to its Facebook page that it was forced to cancel its drag and burlesque shows after being advised by police that some of its events were illegal. Main House Market’s owner says they are now looking for a new location outside of Winter

Garden after the city handed them violations claiming they “need a separate business tax license” to conduct free events.

Himan was also hosting a drag bingo at Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company but posted to her Facebook that after her March 27 event, which was a fundraiser to benefit the drag defense fund through the American Civil Liberties Union, she would no longer have that weekly event.

Watermark reached out to Ivanhoe Park Brewing and they stated that attendance for Drag Bingo Mondays has been slowing down and they “wanted to go back to the drawing board to see if there was another type of event or day that would increase traffic.”

“We have enjoyed hosting Drag Bingo with Tora Himan, through MAM Events, so it was a tough decision to make,” Ivanhoe Park Brewing said in a statement. They also stated that they still host various drag events including Bazaar Botanica and include drag entertainers as “guest visitors” for their trivia nights.

Himan says as she has seen her regular gigs being canceled she’s started to feel very alone.

“It’s hard to have your art form and finally feel like the world gets you, just to have it all stripped away and taken and canceled when you’re at the height of your career,” Himan says. “All of a sudden, I have no career now because of current legislations. It just feels horrible.”

Drag fan Lindsey Courtney attends Himan’s drag events often. Courtney moved to Orlando from St. Louis over two years ago and says she has made close friends through going to Himan’s events.

“It provides a safe space for people to get together and interact with the community and to feel involved. They were just highlights of my week,” she says.

Courtney says she felt angry and powerless seeing her favorite drag event getting canceled, especially since the shows were not adult orientated.

“I think burlesque shows and drag shows can definitely be family friendly,” Courtney says. “I feel like it provides exposure to kids like, ‘Hey, it’s okay to feel, and maybe look, a little different.’ It’s okay to be you.”

Himan currently still hosts Divas & Dining, a weekly all-ages drag brunch show at Estefan Kitchen Orlando.

“I’m even shocked that we have a drag show there, but they are full steam ahead. All ages currently,” Himan says. “My drag persona is,

I would say, PG-13. I toe the line, but never cross the line.”

Even with Himan’s shows being family friendly, prior to them being canceled the venue’s started advertising them “21 and up only.”

“Prior to this madness, all of my shows were family friendly. A couple months ago, they started adding 21 up on the posters and putting adult content,” Himan says. “That’s just a new thing.”

Himan isn’t the only drag queen experiencing the conservative backlash. After having to switch venues earlier this month for her Miss Rose Dynasty drag pageant, Momma Ashley Rose had to cancel Drag & Donuts, an afterschool event organized by Boone High School’s LGBTQ student club, after Orange County School board member Alicia Ferrant criticized the event on Facebook.

“I was shocked and dismayed today to learn that the third annual Drag and Donuts event with the Boone High School QAA was abruptly cancelled when the Florida Department of Education threatened to strip the licenses of any teacher, administrator or staff having any involvement with this totally voluntary, student-led, after-school event,”

Rose said in a statement to Watermark. “The Department of Education questioned whether my participation was age and developmentally appropriate for teenagers. It has been proven that our events are positive, educational, and beneficial. We strive to provide a safe space for everyone, and that should be something that we can all agree on.”

Watermark reached out to Ferrant but did not hear back.

The parent of a senior Boone High School student, who has attended this same event in the past, says they received an automated phone call from the school’s principal addressing how the Department of Education contacted the school and questioned the appropriateness of the event and if it held any educational value.

The parent, who asked not to be identified by name in the story, says the call stated that any faculty, administrator or staff member involved with the event would be investigated and possibly lose their teaching license if the event were to occur.

“I’m pretty heartbroken and disappointed that the state is politicizing this event and taking such an aggressive stance,” the parent said. “These teens—who are really trying to just be their authentic selves—are being hurt, not helped.”

Drag & Donuts is an after-school event for students to meet with a drag queen and ask questions about the art of drag or gender identity. Rose says she planned on talking to students about her personal journey as a queer person, drag culture and all about loving and accepting each other.

“They [usually] ask how to deal with parents or people that are not accepting. It’s very important for these queer people and allies to know and hear from people that are just like them,” Rose says.

Twila Holiday, a Central Florida drag performer who is helping to organize an upcoming drag queen-led rally in Tallahassee, is disappointed to see bills making their way through the Florida Legislature looking to place age restrictions on drag shows and trying to take away parental rights. Holiday, who has a 3-year-old daughter, worries that his own child will be banned from seeing him perform.

“She’s been attending kid friendly drag shows that I’ve done since she was a newborn and as she gets older, we’re right now in the stage where she’s enjoying life, she’s exploring, she likes the colors, she likes the lights,” Holiday says. “Going to these shows, I think is something that’s very important for her.”

Holiday adds that this legislation is not only impacting drag performers livelihoods but it is also stopping his daughter from getting to share in her father’s life.

“The other day I got ready at the house for a private gig and she sat right there next to me on the stool and wanted to play in the makeup and watch Daddy get ready and it’s just sad that she’ll miss out on that and be censored from my life. It’s like my second life, and she’ll be censored from it,” he says.

“The bigger platform we give them, the more entitled they feel to spew their bullying and hatred,” Himan says. “This is only the beginning and if we don’t get out there and tackle whatever this issue is now, it’s going to get much worse.”

Rose says the community is doing everything possible to continue drag events but it is getting difficult.

“We’re contacting our politicians. We’re contacting the government. We’re speaking, but apparently, most of them are not listening,” Rose says. “So, the next step is for parents and people to continue to use their voice and unite together and hopefully, somebody will eventually listen.”