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"It wasn't socially acceptable yet," McGregor said. Sissy LaLa collects tips while performing during the inaugural Stevens Point Pride Day on Saturday, June 29, 2019, at Pioneer Park in Stevens Point, Wis. He thought he had "weird kinks or tendencies," but the thought of being gay was scary and intimidating. As a teenager growing up in Wisconsin Rapids, McGregor knew he was different. But it also took time for him to even face the fact that he was gay. It took time for McGregor to decide to perform in drag. "I'm having a blast (being Kindu Abby)," McGregor said. "It's opened up a whole new character, a whole new side of me. Both love the theater, and drag has become a way for them to express themselves on stage as characters who are strong women with exaggerated makeup and wigs. Neither McGregor nor Goszkowicz is a cross-dresser or yearns to be a woman, a common misconception about drag performers. McGregor, who lives in New Lisbon, performs in drag as Kindu Abby, although he's fairly new to the scene. Wisconsin Rapids Pride was organized by Robert McGregor, a 37-year-old Rapids native who works part time at Hollyrocks. 'You get to be a whole different person.'
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But he does believe that drag can help young gay people feel supported and part of something larger as they go through their own struggles with self-identity and trying to find a place in the world. Goszkowicz said he knows drag won't change the minds of those who hate the LGBTQ community. The harassers were removed by authorities, Goszkowicz said, but the incident was on his mind as he performed later in Wisconsin Rapids. There was a group of people harassing and aiming to intimidate people attending the Pride event, Goszkowicz said. They usually occur when he's dressed as Sissy and going to or from a show, in restaurants or other public places.īefore performing at Wisconsin Rapids Pride, Sissy LaLa attended and performed the same day at the Stevens Point Pride Day at Pfiffner Pioneer Park. Goszkowicz doesn't dress in drag unless he's performing, and these incidents don't happen at shows. She's been "shoved a couple of times," Goszkowicz said.
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Goszkowicz has lived with bullying and harassment for most of his life, and when he is out in public as Sissy LaLa those negative reactions increase. Because underneath it all, for all its value for social change, drag is fun. But those serious themes were also softened with a nudge, a wink and over-the-top camp. Her message resonated with the LGBTQ friendly crowd: We're here, we're staying here and we will be reckoned with. Sissy LaLa, defiantly performing her act in Wisconsin Rapids, represented it all. It can be a vehicle for spreading a message of tolerance and love in a time when hate pops up like weeds. It can be a provocative means of expressing LGBTQ pride. It can be a haven for gay people who yearn to connect to community. It can be an outlet for creative types who want to explore and share their LGBTQ identities. Club owners and performers say that typically half the audiences at these show are straight.ĭrag show artist Sissy LaLa performs on Saturday, June 29, 2019, at Hollyrocks in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.ĭrag is a lot more than men dressing as women and lip-syncing and dancing to pop songs. It attracts a wide variety of audiences on television (Hello, RuPaul!) and in welcoming-to-all venues in small towns across America. In Wisconsin, drag shows have been staged in the past few months, not only in Wisconsin Rapids, but in towns scattered across the state, such as Green Bay, Eau Claire, Wausau, Stevens Point and Rhinelander. In the later half of the 20th century, drag was mostly performed in gay bars for predominantly gay audiences, or in urban areas with substantial populations of LGBTQ people, places such as Chicago, Milwaukee and the Twin Cities in the Midwest.īut over the last 15 years or so, drag has evolved from a niche specialty to become part of the mainstream entertainment scene.
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The storyline of the 1998 movie "Shakespeare In Love" centered around the fact that women were not allowed to perform in public in the Elizabethan era, so men in drag played the part of female characters. And Hollyrocks is not a gay bar, although it is a venue that strives to be welcoming for all.ĭrag performance is nothing new. Ten years ago, no one could have predicted this would happen, especially here. Wisconsin Rapids is a conservative, hardscrabble mill town of just fewer than 17,000 people located in the middle of Wisconsin farm country.