In a Bushwick warehouse on Saturday evening, three drag queens danced onstage to the song This Is Me from the movie The Greatest Showman. Hundreds of other queens stared up at them and mouthed the lyrics to the tune as they swayed in unison, entranced. When the movie came out in 2017, This Is Me quickly became a pride anthem for the LGBTQ+ community because of its message of inclusivity and respect. And in that warehouse, This Is Me became the perfect backdrop for Bushwig, an annual festival for drag queens in Brooklyn, for the exact same reason.
Even as society has made major strides in the last few decades, being LGBTQ+ still often feels like being an outsider. So when we're in a space exclusively built for the queer community, we tend to call it a "safe space." That's mostly true — being surrounded by people who share one of your identities is almost always more comfortable — but not always the case. LGBTQ+ people can and do discriminate based on race, size, gender expression, and many other facets of identity. The phrase "no fats, no fems, no Asians" is a well-known problem on Grindr, a popular dating app for gay men. And RuPaul, possibly the most famous drag queen ever, has come under criticism several times for his comments about transgender people.
So while a drag festival like Bushwig sounds like an instant safe space, the event has a policy that reminds people to be respectful of all parts of everyone's identity.
"Bushwig will not tolerate racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, biphobic, femme phobic, ageist, ableist, fat phobic, classist, xenophobic, or oppressive behavior or language of any kind at our festival," reads the event's policy to attendees.
Ahead, we talk with 13 drag queens who attended Bushwig about the true meaning of safe spaces, and why it's so important to be able to express themselves without judgment.
"Even going from my apartment to Bushwig, it can feel very scary in New York City. Every time I leave my apartment building dressed in a lewk, there's definitely a little bit of fear. My neighborhood is definitely not used to seeing these characters floating around, so there are some questions, there are some catcalls, it's not welcoming. To have a space like this to come to and feel my fantasy and be who I want to be, it's amazing. It allows me to explore who I am as a queer artist and learn and grow.
"One of the headliners for tonight is Andro Gin, a drag king, which is something you'd never see in the queer or gay spaces in Manhattan. That they're headlining a drag festival is momentous. The fact that we're able to celebrate drag kings, bio-queens (a drag queen who was assigned female at birth), gender non-conforming performers, all these different aspects of gender that aren't typically addressing in mainstream gay culture...it's a nice to have a place where they're celebrated." — Kevin Jaedon
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"I think that these spaces are necessary. A lot of times, queer people don't feel safe expressing themselves in their normal day-to-day life, so safe spaces allow us to have a Christmas, have a holiday, have a time to be our full, true selves.
"If it was just another festival that was about being gay, it would be just like Pride and Pride is normally a space for white, gay men. I feel safe, loved, appreciated, and seen. Queens are so much fun. Life is more fun when drag queens are around. They like to have fun, they like to party, they like to be positive, they like to make you feel good, they like to tell jokes, and I think that is what people need right now in this very troubling political climate." — Dionne Slay
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"[Safe space to mean means] seeing people who are pushing different ideas around me and pushing them further, so I feel secure being able to express whatever I'm feeling because I'm seeing someone do something even crazier. You look around here, and everyone is doing the most.
"Afropunk has been doing that [creating safe space for all identities] for the longest time. Next to their main stage, they have giant signs that say, 'No sexism, no racism, no homophobia,' all of these things. It is important and other events will catch on.
"It keeps us from talking down to our family members, this is our family. There can be a tendency to talk down to each other. But this energy feels so positive and supportive. Even if you feel like your lewk wasn't going to be understood, there's someone who will get it and will live for it." — Adrian Manuel
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"You should always have that safe space, but I also believe that you should push boundaries and make other places that you don't think are safe into safe spaces. If we tuck ourselves away too much, then we don't get the visibility that we're fighting for. I've had a lot of people who say, 'I only go to places that are queer friendly.' But every place should be queer friendly and we should fight for that.
"It feels difficult because you'll have to go against so many systems that are already there, but that's why we're doing it — to break those walls." — Cleo Berlin
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"Safe spaces are important for reforming the culture, so we're accepted throughout every community and everyone can feel welcome. Every variation [of drag queen] is needed, just to show that there are so many different types of people. To look around and see such beauty in different cultures is amazing." — Sweet Tea
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"I think there are so many places in life where you can't really be yourself and you always have to play a part, and safe spaces are where you can play the part you want to play. I'm always going to feel more comfortable around my queer family where everyone celebrates being creative.
"I love being part of the Brooklyn scene because Brooklyn has such welcoming arms and is so diverse. Everybody is welcome, and everything is so boring without that. Even Manhattan has a different vibe, but Brooklyn is community-focused and you can find so many like-minded people who want to express themselves. There's so much more experimentation, and fun, and stupidity — it's just so much more open." — Mahal Kita
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"We need to be able to have spaces where we can creatively express ourselves as well as who we are as a people. Ten years ago it would have been almost unheard of to have a space like this. By growing as a really strong community and pushing safety at clubs, bars, and whatever other places, we've been able to create spaces for us to feel safe.
"But because we've been a community that has been ostracized in the past, I think sometimes we forget to include everyone. It's almost a defense mechanism. Sometimes, we create a safe space for a specific group of people, but in doing that we've ostracized other people from our community. And we need to remember that, especially in times like this, it's important to be inclusive of our queer family at large." — Hannah Lou
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"There are a lot of LGBT spaces that aren't necessarily safe spaces because they're not queer friendly or trans friendly. As someone who is both queer and trans identifying, I find it very important to go somewhere and feel welcome because everyone wants to feel welcome.
"We create these beautiful worlds to walk into where we can celebrate who we are and get away from the heteronormative poison that's often waiting outside." — Eileen Bothways
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"We all are just walking from bar to bar in Brooklyn, but it's nice to be able to come here and stumble around a big space like this and feel comfortable surrounded by other queens. This community is so inclusive, and I know that if you leave the city it's not the same level of inclusivity [in the drag culture there]." — Patti Spliff
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"There are a lot of us who go out looking like this, looking crazy, and just because of who we are there are a lot of places we go where we're nervous to walk outside the door or scared to take the train. So it's important to have spots where we can just be ourselves and not have to think about who's watching us and who's around us and how we may be perceived by other people.
"Being a queen, we're always on display and we always know people are looking at us. But there's a difference between being on the train and knowing that people are looking at you, and being at a performance space and having people look at you. You can see the difference in their eyes and what they're thinking, between 'what is that, why is that, who is that?' and 'oh my god, she's amazing.'" — Vivien Gabor
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"I only ever perform at places where I feel like it's inclusive of everybody, and not only safe for performers but for every single person in the place. And not only safe in that they're literally protected in their physical safety, but that they feel comfortable there and feel like they can get outrageous and everyone will have their back. It's got to be fun. The whole idea of being safe is so you can have fun." — Nicky Ottav
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"I personally don't like the term 'safe space' because I feel that our fore-fathers, they came from radicalness and not being in a safe space to create art. I like spaces like this where we can all be together and talk freely. But I do like the resistance because without resistance there isn't art and we are all artists.
"I don't think a space can ever be totally safe, because what people tend to forget is that you need to get to the space and that's never truly safe. Walking out of my house in my lewk to get into the taxi and then the taxi driver asks questions, and then the taxi driver stops by the side of the road to kick me out...that can happen and it's not safe. Here I feel safe, but I have 'boy clothes' in my bag just in case I have to walk home tonight." — Frieda Slaves
Photographed by Nicolas Bloise.
"I definitely feel more in the zone here [at Bushwig], but it requires a lot of energy. The thing about being a safe space is that you can't guarantee that. So people see you removing your clothes on stage, especially someone they read to be a woman which is how I'm often read, and they assume it's for their consumption. Unfortunately, in a lot of cis gay spaces people really want to touch and grab at the shiny, but it's ever more important in these spaces and as queer folks that we are holding each other to consent. And that being beyond just 'don't touch' to include how we speak to each other and whether or not we assume each other's pronouns. That's part of consent for me, and part of what makes a space safe." — Theydy Bedbug
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