QSaltLake Magazine - Issue 329 - November, 2021

30  |  QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE  |  Q&A

Qsaltlake.com  |

Issue 329  |

NOVEMBER, 2021

Del Rio, I was like, “Oh my gosh, totally. Homecoming.” Because there’s just something about being a Texan and the experience in Texas. And then layer that in with the Black experience in Texas, the queer experience in Texas — it’s something that really unites a lot of us.

SHANGELA IS SPREADING PRIDE WITH A PURPOSE, HONEY

‘RuPaul’s Drag Queen’ alum talks Season 2 of HBO’s ‘We’re Here’ BY EVE KUCHARSKI

You can’t

keep Shangela Laquifa Wadley down. Seriously, she came back to “RuPaul’s Drag Race” three times. And now, along with co-stars Bob the Drag Queen and Eureka O’Hara, she’s back for Season 2 of HBO’s “We’re Here.” Even when COVID-19 brought the production of the real-life series to a halt during its final episode of its first season, it was months before the drag trio could find themselves back in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to finish prepping their drag kids for their on-stage debut. But in true form, by the time Shangela and the crew returned, it wasn’t to hastily cobble together a disrupted season finale — it was with an Emmy Award nod and a second season secured. As Shangela herself would say: “Halleloo!” On Oct. 11, Season 2 of “We’re Here” returned to HBO featuring dozens more stories of self-expression, actualization and discovery through drag. The unscripted series has earned its reputation as a tear-jerker, but never at the expense of the small-town America residents it highlights.

During a call she took from her aunt’s house in Paris, Texas, Shangela reflected on the unique insight her own small-town background has given her on “We’re Here,” why it seems like drag can get anyone to open up, and how the show has given her “an even greater sense of purpose.” “We’re Here” is a show that visits conservative small towns across the U.S., which many LGBTQ+ people might find to be intimidating places to visit. But this season you traveled to your home state of Texas. Did that feel like a homecoming?  Well, I feel like it’s such a gift for me to be a part of show like “We’re Here,” because the show goes across the U.S. to conservative towns that don’t really have a huge visible queer presence. And I’m like, “Oh, small conservative town in the U.S.? Didn’t have a queer presence? I grew up in one.” I always think it would have been so awesome when I was a kid coming up to see this kind of visibility for artists, drag artists, queer artists just going to small towns and showcasing those particular kinds of stories. So, I think this show is really a huge gift. And when we were able to visit a town in Texas,

You did one show this season in Evansville, Illinois, and a man came up to you with a gun on his hip. But even though he looked intimidating, he loved everything that “We’re Here” is doing. Despite your comfort with conservative small towns, do you ever feel nerves when talking about drag in these communities?  I think it’s really interesting you bring up Evansville, because that moment outside of the fireworks store just reminded us that even those of us in the queer community, we get stereotyped so much. We meet people and go, “Have you ever come to a drag show?” And they’re like, “No,” and we’re like, “Oh, do you know what drag queens are?” And they have the worst stereotypes sometimes of what their perception of who a drag queen is. And when that guy walked up it reminded me that even us as queer people, we have stereotypes about other people that we feel might be outside of our community. A lot of times people say to us, “Oh my god, you’re going to a small town? You poor things. Are you going to be safe? Do you have security? Those small-minded people who don’t support [us].” And then watching the show you learn that you can’t stereotype a town because it’s a small town or because it’s labeled even a small conservative town. And this show definitely shines a light on what the queer experience is like in a lot of these small towns but also the hope that we have that people can change, that the ways of thinking are evolving and the amount of inclusion can be increased if we really go out there and unearth the pockets of support in some of the most unlikely places. What do you think about drag is so disarming that it makes people open up?  The art of drag is not just about the showmanship of it. Because a lot of people think, “OK, I’m getting in drag: wig, makeup, dress, outfit, heels. OK, I’m a drag queen.”