Liverpool has a wide range of drag queen talent on offer.
Whether it be DJing, lip-synching, performing, comedy or looking glamorous, there is a queen out there in the city who has got it down to a tee. All this considered, it is hardly surprising that two out of the four winners of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK belong to Liverpool - The Vivienne and Danny Beard.
However, many of those who attend the Pride Quarter for a night out might not even recognise their favourite drag queens once they have wiped away the smokey eye and bold lip. Arguably this is because they are usually a few inches taller and their hair a completely different colour, but also because their alter-ego gives them a newfound confidence they don’t always have when out of drag.
READ MORE: I tried drag makeup for the first time and I’ve never felt more glamorous
Take, for example, Dys Grace, a 21-year-old radio presenter who lives in the city centre. She told the ECHO : “When I found Grace, she saved me. I was so depressed and low all the time, never valuing myself or my own time because I looked at drag as if I was being forced to do it. But then that all broke free when I saw how incredible the world of drag is.
“Drag makes me feel alive, empowered and driven to make a change, I don’t want to just sit back and watch the world turn I want change to happen, that’s why I and my friends are heavily into charity work, to raise awareness for these causes that need light bringing to them.”
The Masquerade’s Carmen Sutra, a 25-year-old cabaret artist, explained if it wasn't for their second self they wouldn't have made the friendships they have today. She said: “I'm definitely a lot shyer around new people when I'm out of drag. I find that Carmen can approach anybody and feel confident in leading that conversation, yet Adam is a lot more reserved and doesn't necessarily have the same confidence that Carmen has."
Assigned female at-birth drag queen Kiki Pain, originally from Widnes, doubted herself for a long time because of being in a male-dominated industry. After being booked for gig after gig this year and having created her own drag brunch, she has proved there is space for female drag queens.
She added: “When I am in drag I feel as though nothing can stop me. I feel like I am at my best and my confidence levels go through the roof. Out of drag I still have the same confident, bubbly personality however when I’m in drag there’s something about glueing a brow down that gives you power."
‘Shapeshifting drag monster’, Athena Barbital, celebrates Halloween every week of the year. When they aren’t in drag, the PhD student is investigating the ability of neuroimaging to predict the response of a patient with epilepsy to certain medications.
However, once he steps into the 7-inch heels of his alter-ego, he feels self-assured. He said: “I can be quite a shy person out of drag, but getting into it feels like putting on someone else's face, like stepping into someone else's heels and I no longer have to worry about making a fool out of myself.”
The same can be said for Scott MacDonald. The 22-year-old from Old Swan is a computer programmer - but by night he is a drag queen who is like a “Scouse mum from the Crosby circus.”
He told the ECHO : "Drag for me is a complete 360 from my day job where everything is logical and professional. In drag, I can be silly, creative and a downright trollop. It gives me a chance to display the creativity that I wouldn’t have an outlet for otherwise."
Receive our weekly LGBTQIA+ newsletter by signing up here .
READ NEXT:
- Dangerous men every woman in Merseyside needs to know about
- Mum's last text to daughters before Elle Edwards shot dead
- Terrifying reality of the crisis in our NHS laid bare
- Son, 21, shot dead as he got Christmas presents out of his car
- Primark's £7 bag that's strikingly similar to Prada's £2,500 Cleo
