Squeezed into a closet-sized bathroom in the small apartment they share, drag queens Venus Wyre and Moxxxie Hexxx search through a hundred brushes and containers of makeup as they prepare for a lip-sync battle at Chasers, a local gay bar in Charlotte.
Their home is highlighted in pink and neon. A blue wig is pinned to a mannequin head near the center of the room, surrounded by tinsel and scattered fabric.
Wyre has been part of the drag scene since the age of 15, beginning with online drag competitions. Her performances were supported by her progressive parents, and it was her mother who introduced Wyre to her drag mother, Barbie.
The virtual events that are Wyre’s roots gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving drag queens an opportunity to practice their art, despite the closure of many public spaces. She rehearsed in her bedroom late at night so that when her time came, she could create a storm onstage.
Hexxx was not as fortunate. Coming from a conservative home in Philadelphia, she felt pressure from her religious community to repress her identity and the drag she was interested in, resulting in a tiring yet accomplished career in basketball.
People took Hexxx’s queer self-identity for weakness, “Like, just cause I’m gay doesn’t mean you can make fun of me. I can do all the things you can do, too,” says Hexxx.
She says that competitive spirit has shifted from the court to the drag stage.
When asked about the feedback given at Chaser’s lip-sync battles and other drag events, Wyre and Hexxx have contradicting feelings. Wyre feels that Chaser’s idea of drag creates a box that constricts her creativity. “Yeah, things do need rhinestones…but some people don’t do that type of drag,” says Wyre.
Hexxx says “polish is just as important as mess.”
The two stress the need for a queen to balance beauty and performance.
Wyre glues down her wig as she talks about the restrictions she believes drag has on creativity and especially for people of color in Charlotte.
She thinks most of the venues in Charlotte seem geared more toward white patrons and performers. When Scorpio closed its Freedom Drive location and moved to Southend, some felt that they had lost a space that was more welcoming to the city’s Black LGBTQ+ community.
Wyre adds that the lack of Black gay spaces is a shift she is adjusting to when she moved from Memphis, her hometown. She goes on to describe the energy in these locations: “You do some Kia. You move, bitch. You have fun. You look glamorous. You gotta have everything together.”
The Drag Persona
Nerves can affect anyone before performing. Hexxx says the struggle between her drag persona and non-drag life can be challenging as well.
“Balancing Luke and Moxxxie outside work and personal spaces is a struggle. It can consume you,” says Wyre, referring to the energy it takes to get into character.
While applying lashes, Hexxx says, “I wouldn’t say they are completely different people. Moxxxie is a part of Luke, and there are some aspects of Luke that [are] in Moxxxie.” As a new queen, “if you don’t have the conversation with yourself about who this person is, you won’t figure it out.”
Wyre interrupts and says, “it’s an extension of myself. Drag gives you a pass to be as big of a personality as you wanna be.” She adds that drag doesn’t require you to code-switch for the norm; a concept queer people know too much about. “In drag, you’re able to be your full person times ten.”
That larger-than-life personality is on full display as they walk into Chasers. The girls compliment the bartender and saunter toward patrons. Four-inch heels announce that royalty has entered the building.
The dance floor is empty, though the event is scheduled to start in an hour. The DJ behind the stage tends to his turntables while occasionally greeting people as they enter the club. Pink and blue spotlights sway to the thump of the speakers. Glistening, aluminum-like, ornaments hang from the ceiling, replicating winter branches.
The queens make sure everyone in and outside the club knows their names. Though the wind is dry and sharp, they stand tall, giggling with others. Gossip fills the silence. Everyone seems to know one another. People shiver on patio furniture, desperately trying to resist the cold’s push to send them inside.
The Jimmy James song “Fashionista” blasts through the speakers, alerting the audience that the show is about to start. Groups walk to their seats and watch the hosts’ opening numbers.
Wyre’s lip-sync is next. She marches onto the stage with determination as if the mix she made the night before ignites the performer inside.
Her energy screams power and sex appeal as she uses the entire room for her performance, starting with the pole on-stage and moving down into the audience. Behind the blasting speakers are screams from attendees. People eat up each drop of Wyre.
After her performance, the hosts, Vanna Vanity and Lolita Chanel, offer their praise and critique. Letting her know their opinions of her outfit and routine.
Unlike other bars, Chasers’s lip-sync battles are open to queens, old and new. The event gives them an opportunity to experiment with their craft. That night, a new queen hit the stage with Britney Spears’s “Circus.” Drag Queen Tommy, dressed as a clown in black and white stripes, surprises the audience with her talent.
Competition is in the air, and host, Vanna Vanity, could feel it. “This has been such a fun night,” Vanity says. “We have fierce competitors.”
Each queen, different from the next, ends their routine to applause and a handful of bills. Once the first round of lip-syncs are over, the hosts decide which queens will compete for the win. After seconds of silence, Vanity announces that Tommy will move to the next round and battle the audience’s choice, Ohsheaman.
Though Wyre and Hexxx cannot compete for the crown, the two cheer for Tommy, another new queen in Charlotte. The hosts follow the competing queens’ kicks and lips to decide who outperformed the others. In the end, Ohsheaman wins and the audience applauds another victorious queen.
Says Wyre: “I’m here to have fun and enjoy myself.” She doesn’t worry about loss. Though Hexxx’s competitive spirit hates a loss, she agrees. For both, drag is an outlet of expression. Losing means nothing as long as they’re able to perform and tell a story.
“It’s something I view as to just get on a stage and compete, kinda low stakes,” Hexxx offers. “It’s [competing] fun, and I get more out of it.”
Whether a performer wins or loses – it’s clear – drag is a magnet for community. After the results are called, the various queens reconnect with one another, exchanging compliments on performances, hugging and laughing.
“Drag has a way of being a true unifier,” says Wyre, “that I don’t think other outlets do.”
Both queens insist they are not in drag to win, they are there for family and the love of the craft.