Until I competed in my first pride pageant on May 28 at River City Casino, all I really knew about pageants came from watching the iconic 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine and occasionally mining YouTube for the worst beauty pageant responses to the on-stage Q&A. My working class roots and the fact that I was…
Performers
A History of St. Louis’ Drag Scene
St. Louis’ LGBTQ+ ancestral family tree includes countless drag performers and gender nonconforming individuals. Currently, St. Louis lays claim to having the world’s oldest performing drag queen – John Chaney, who performs at the age of 94 as Bonnie Blake, a St. Louis legend. Chaney and others have paved the way to advance LGBTQ+ rights…
Portrait of a Drag Friendship: Big, Queer and Female
In the dressing room at St. Louis’s newest gay bar, Prism, nine drag performers are in varying stages of undress. They pass around duct tape to secure their genitals and help each other shimmy into breast plates. Their voices are low, and they always need something: safety pins, concealer, eyelash glue. Usually, I have whatever…
PrideSTL’s Entertainment Line Up for Virtual PrideFest 2020
Pride St. Louis is excited to announce the entertainment lineup for Virtual PrideFest 2020. This first-of-its-kind STL Pride event will feature a wonderful mixture of national recording artists as well as regional and local entertainers. Many national recording artists will headline the festival, including Ava Max, Betty Who, Kim Petras, R&B sister duo Chloe X…
Inside the Whirlwind Experience of Competing in the Miss Gay Missouri America Pageant
The theme for the soon-to-be rescheduled 47th annual Miss Gay Missouri America pageant is “Viva Las Vega.” It’s an homage to the reigning MGMA 2019, Vega (John Michael Tabakian), who will give up the crown after a banner year as our state’s symbol of excellence. Pattaya Hart, Miss Gay America 2020 is expected to co-star.…
GutterGlitter Kicks off Lesbian Visibility Week
It’s time to don your fanciest flannel, your largest pompadour, and your slickest Birkenstocks to celebrate Lesbian Visibility Week! The growing event is likely to be stifled in much of the world in light of the current quarantine. However, that’s not stopping the folks, womxn and non binary babes at GutterGlitter from putting on a…
Trinity “The Tuck” Taylor, Season 4 Winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, to Emcee Missouri Entertainer of the Year Pageant
Steven Delaney, owner of the Missouri Entertainer of the Year Pageant, announced that Trinity Taylor, National Entertainer of the Year 2014 and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 4, will be the emcee for Missouri Entertainer of the Year’s 2020 Pageant on Sunday, May 17th at Hamburger Mary’s St. Louis. Tabbi Katt, the…
Black Tulip Chorale Celebrates 500 Years of LGBTQIA2+ Music With Free Concert Nov. 16
Black Tulip Chorale closes its second season with a performance celebrating more than 500 years of music from LGBTQIA2+ artists, ranging from art songs and arias to 21st century pop music. Featured artists for the “Our Song” concert include Grammy award winner Christine Brewer and members of the St. Louis Wind Symphony. Production manager Ken…
New Cabaret Venue Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge Opens with Ken Haller Oct. 31
Twenty years ago pediatrician and cabaret favorite Ken Haller started a special fund for a yet-to-be-determined retirement passion. Although he has no plans to retire at the moment, when producer and entrepreneur Jim Dolan invited him to invest in a Central West End cabaret venue this past March, Haller basically said, “Take my money!” See…
Strike a Pose: St. Louis has a storied ball scene — and its stars are ready to strut their stuff at Pride
It was 2001 when Mechee Harper took her nineteen-year-old friend Meko Lee Burr to Chicago for his first ball. “We ended up taking over a KFC as our dressing room,” Harper recalls. “And the employees were like, ‘Well, alright!’” The underground, largely black and Latinx LGBTQ ball culture has mostly existed out of mainstream awareness…