Logan Pride’s ‘Divas of Drag’
Logan Pride is committed to creating a safe environment for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as allies. They host events every week for people to get involved. Their mission is to “build a healthy and thriving LGBTQIA+ community by providing a safe space, education, resources, and outreach.”
Mel Payne is the marketing director of Logan Pride and takes charge of fundraising and events.
“Coming to Utah is a culture shock, and as I was looking around, I was like, ‘Are there trans people here? Are there people in this LGBTQ community?’ So I started volunteering with Pride,” Payne said.
An upcoming event is Divas of Drag, a drag show taking place at Elements Restaurant on April 30. One of the main goals of the event is to raise awareness and show support for members of the LBGTQIA+ community.
Fundraising has an important role as the next few events raise the funds for the annual Logan Pride Festival in September. Funding also contributes to allowing Logan Pride to maintain an open house where members can come to feel safe and included.
Payne said he noticed those who attend the activities, as well as allies that show solidarity, create a safe space that allows those who feel forgotten or shunned to be engaged, to form beneficial relationships, and to receive the support they need as they journey to figure out who and what they want to be.
“Nowadays it’s easy to condemn, fear, or hate what we don’t understand. In addition to fundraising, part of this event is to promote understanding to Cache Valley’s greater community. We are truly grateful for our growing base of amazing LGBTQ+ allies!” Clay Essig, Logan Pride vice president, wrote in an email response.
Recent legislation proposed and passed in various states across America have begun to target drag shows and gender affirming treatments, including Utah’s Senate Bill 16, which was passed in early February.
Payne said there has been increased resistance to the upcoming drag show because of these bills.
“I have had two other drag shows in the past month, and we’ve had much larger turnouts because people wanted to support it. In this case, we’ve had a lot of naysayers, and this is the first time I’ve experienced this,” Payne said. “We are getting blown up on social media by people who don’t understand drag, and that we are here to ‘groom’ the kids. And that isn’t the case at all — that isn’t what drag is about.”
Due to the surplus of negative comments online, rumors were spread that members of the Logan community would be protesting the drag event in front of the city council, who met on April 18.
Members of the LGBTQ community as well as leadership from the Elements Restaurant showed up in support of the show.
Yvonne Marcyes, president of Logan Pride, attended the meeting.
“One of the first things the council said was that Elements was a private business, and therefore had their First Amendment right to speech and expression, and if people were there to protest the drag, that the city council couldn’t do anything about it,” Marcyes said. “It was refreshing to see all the people that showed up in support, and no one stood up to protest the event after the council’s comment.”
She said the steps taken to educate the community and grow a network of support for members so far have paid off.
“I think most of the social media opposition was based on a lack of understanding of drag, its centuries old history in the world and Utah, and the purpose of this charitable event sponsored by one of Logan’s finest restaurants,” Essig wrote.
Marcyes said drag is a form of theater, and Payne said the point of drag is complete expression of one’s identity and being true to themselves. Still, many perceive drag to have an inherent sexual focus.
Payne said an argument made in protest of drag is that it opens children up to sexual grooming and sexualization, which is degrading to their mental well-being.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, grooming is “the action of attempting to form a relationship with a child or young person, with the intention of sexually assaulting them or inducing them to commit an illegal act.” Grooming can happen in many ways, but is typically used to gain the trust of a potential victim of abuse through desensitization of sexual topics and sexual touch and/or an abuser’s attempts to make an action seem more natural.
But Payne said drag shows are a safe place for people to bring their children.
“It is just good fun for people in a safe place,” Payne said. “We have these little kids that came up and drew pictures of the drag queens, and were like ‘I want to be like you when I grow up.’”
Drag awareness creates a safe space for helping kids who identify in a certain way and enables them to find mentors or role models through drag shows. Payne mentioned minor participants were just happy someone was there to represent something they could get involved in.
Logan Pride is open to whoever is interested in creating a network of allies and LGBTQ+ members alike to spread awareness and support within the Logan community. For more information on events and volunteer opportunities, visit loganpride.org