International Drag Day is an annual event that takes place on July 16th in order to celebrate and get to know the art of drag all over the world.
Drag is an expression in slang that means to wear something to express a certain idea. It is generally customary to use the term expression for entertainment artists whose style of dress, make-up and hair arrangement is of the opposite gender. A drag artist man who dresses and puts on make-up like a woman is called a drag queen and a drag artist woman who dresses and puts on make-up like a man is called a drag king. Some women are drag queens who dress, put on make-up and wear wigs so that they look like the male drag queens. Confused? Sorry. If you want to learn more about drag art, it is highly recommended to watch the reality show "Rupaul's Drag Race" on VH1 channel or Netflix.
Sometimes drag is linked to homosexuality, but not necessarily, there are drag queens who like to appear regardless of their sexual orientation (which can be heterosexual). Many male drag queens say that from a young age they watched their mother and coveted their clothes and makeup and received the message from the environment that it was forbidden and they should feel bad and ashamed of themselves, and when they discovered the drag world they felt they finally had the legitimacy to express themselves.
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| Rupaul's Drag Race |
The drag queens played an important part in paving the way for LGBT recognition. They were involved in the Stonewall riots, which were a series of spontaneous violent demonstrations by members of the proud New York community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at a gay bar called Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. This event is considered a founding and most important event, which led to the gay liberation movement and the modern struggle for LGBT rights in the United States.
International Drag Day was founded by Adam Stewart in 2009 through his Drag Queen fan page on Facebook, with the main goal being to provide drag artists with the space to properly expose their creativity and culture.
Drag is a celebration of creativity, artistic gymnastics, humor and music and royalty and drag kings work very hard and in a very professional way to succeed and conquer the heart of the audience.
On July 16, 2017, BBC weather forecaster Evan Wayne Evans gave a prediction on the subject of drag queens and paid tribute to the Drag Queen and the TV show Rupol's Drag Race as a way to show support for the celebration.
In addition to the artistic performances, on this day there are discussions and talks about the rights and status of drag artists in different countries, the role of the drag community in the LGBT movement, feminism and other issues by sharing experiences from everyday life.
In Australia, the Stonewall Hotel was a major logistics partner for one of the editions and hosted a huge event to celebrate the day.
How to celebrate International Drag Day?
To celebrate Drag Day, you can dress up and put on make-up like a drag queen or king, go to a drag artists show and you can also do a Ropol drag race marathon, where drag queens compete for the title of "America's next drag star". The show has a lot of seasons and a lot of fans around the world and if you like, it also has a British version of "Rupaul's Drag Race UK" and spin-offs shows like "Rupaul's Allstars Drag Race" featuring popular competitors from previous seasons and "VIP Rupaul's Drag Race" where competitors from the race, makeover celebrities into drag queens.
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| Rupaul's Drag Race Contestants, Season 12 ( VH1) |