Drag is not a crime
Drag has always been a place of resistance and is particularly potent as the amount of political attacks on gender nonconformity has risen. On Monday, Apr. 22, the honor of introducing Rochester drag queen Mrs. Kasha Davis was given to senior women and gender studies major Cameron O'Brien. O’Brien during their introduction stressed how everyone should have the opportunity to live as their true authentic selves.
Kasha Davis is widely known in the Rochester drag scene, while also being recognized for her time in RuPaul's Drag Race season seven and Drag Race All Stars season eight. Davis started her talk with the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross quote, “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”
Davis details her journey of acceptance as a gay man, as she wasn't always confident or safe in her identity. The consensus was “A man like me would marry the first girl that would say yes, even if it meant denying who I really was.” Being queer in the 1980s and ‘90s was not safe for Davis or any of her peers. The message she and many other children received growing up was, “If you were gay, you would get AIDS and die—and that is how God wanted it.” For this reason, she waited to come out to her parents until the age of twenty-eight.
Davis opened up about her struggles with alcohol in hopes of offering a path to those who need one. By embracing honesty and powerlessness post-Drag-Race and relying on her chosen family, however, Davis has been able to remain sober for nearly a decade.
In recent years, the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgender individuals and drag kings and queens, has been under political attack. For example, during her talk Davis brought up Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old non-binary student in Oklahoma, who died on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. This was said to have occurred after a physical altercation with a group of girls who had bullied Benedict on multiple occasions. The lives of transgender and non-binary youth need to be protected, but they are currently under fire.
Imagination Station is Davis’s latest venture, a new children's show she described as “Mrs. Doubtfire hosting Pee Wee's Playhouse in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.” They are currently looking for a streaming platform, though getting someone to stream Imagination Station has been very difficult. Strikes and political attacks have hindered the project for the last three years, as it was dropped by initial interested parties at PBS due to a fear of losing donors due to the program. Davis hopes every TV show possible will teach children that you do not need to fully understand each other to treat each other with respect.
Davis stressed that loving yourself exactly as you are and inviting others to join you is crucial. She shared confidence advice from her mother; “Look into your own eyes and say ‘I love you.’” When you love yourself, anything is possible.
Thumbnail photo courtesy of The Lamron’s Opinion Editor Nia Jones