Drag show of support for Murray

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This article was published 04/09/2022 (745 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Drag queens, eggs Benedict and municipal politics were the headliners at what may be Winnipeg’s first drag show fundraiser held for a mayoral candidate at Club 200 Sunday morning.

Brunch and a show, held in support of — as posters put it — Glen Murray’s “mayoralty” campaign drew more than 100 supporters to the iconic gay club. Ticket buyers were treated to lip sync performances, a meal, and a speech from Murray to a community that he said has long supported him.

“The reason that I could be mayor of a city at a time when it didn’t happen, it hadn’t happened anywhere, and happens still relatively rarely today, was because of people like this, all the people in there,” Murray told the Free Press at Club 200 Sunday morning.

Murray was the first openly gay mayor of a North American city when he first held Winnipeg’s top spot in 1998. At that time, he found support within Winnipeg’s LGBTTQ+ community — there was even a fundraiser in his name at Club 200 in 1992 — and while some things have stayed the same, the city this community has grown in has changed.

“It’s really changed. It’s not that there isn’t violence, and there isn’t systemic homophobia, and there isn’t those kinds of horrible things,” Murray said.

“But I don’t have to wear a Kevlar jacket to work anymore, which I did some days when I was mayor, because of the threats.”

Supporters picked up lawn and window signs in support of Murray, who gave a speech promising to make Winnipeg a more inclusive and accessible city to everyone. Drag queens served as the morning’s entertainment, lip syncing to upbeat songs such as Walking on Sunshine, and Popular from the musical Wicked, while picking up tips from enthralled onlookers.

Unique as a drag show mayoral fundraiser may be, working within a community as large and diverse as Winnipeg’s queer community could only be beneficial to anyone running for mayor, one drag queen, who goes by Satina Loren while in drag, explained.

“I think that when people think of drag queens, they think of performers at nightclubs, they think of just adult entertainment, whereas actually, drag is a political act in itself,” Loren said. “And so now we have a chance to actually put our faces and our names to good use.”

It was a no-brainer when drag queen Feather Talia was approached with the idea of performing at a fundraiser for Murray.

“He has been here, rooting and fighting for us for so long,” Talia said. “And I think that him doing this just shows that he’s still here to support us as people, as people of colour, as queer people.”

Another drag queen, who goes by Anita Stallion while in drag, said Winnipeg’s LGBTTQ+ community isn’t always reached out to in the same way other marginalized groups may be reached out to during election season.

“I think a lot of times, this community is forgotten in elections, and I think there’s times where there isn’t that inclusivity,” Stallion said. “So I think it’s really important when we have an opportunity to represent our community and come up and support a candidate who’s openly queer.”

Murray echoed that sentiment.

“I think as queer people in this community, we’re used to being ignored and not listened to,” he said.

“I think this is important… It’s a chance for people to get together and talk with an elected official.”

malak.aba@freepress.mb.ca