It's the name of a drag show here in SF (and other places) around the holidays ❄️

This isn't the place to be discussing these topics, so I sent you a smail. I hope you read it, please.

i legitimately thought it was a sticker genuinely calling the holidays a drag, but also complimenting them in the description. i literally did not make the connection to drag queens. ;____; ; i feel dumb.

You're not the only one, I thought the same thing at first. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who didn't make the connection, I feel less dumb now.

All of the queens I know would think this is hilarious.

Seems like another case of people not a part of the target group in question deciding that something is offense for them, which is frankly kind of crappy, too!

unoffensive

Doing Drag =/= being transgender I am sorry if anyone was offended by this sticker because they are trans, but most Drag Queens have this "crude" humor and do make this and similar jokes a lot. While there are a lot of ladies who identify as trans after working as Drag Queens, it's not the same sentiment as being an entertainer is their job and not their identity which I know can be really hard to identify the difference.

I am glad staff has responded in such an understanding way and I am very happy Subeta is such a place where we can have this calm discussion :)

I'm not a drag queen myself, at least not now, but I'm a feminine trans guy so I can be pretty sensitive to bad portrayals of feminine men (although I think those portrayals hurt trans women more overall). I worry a really lot about transitioning and being treated badly if I am a visibly feminine man.

I chuckled at the sticker, and though it was cute and a nice inclusion of drag queens and anyone who doesn't conform to gender roles. Which doesn't mean trans people in general - there are plenty of trans people who do conform to the gender roles of the gender they really are, like masculine trans men and feminine trans women. And I don't think that this sticker was meant to refer to them, or even to me really... my style is more androgynous.

I did wonder if some people would be upset at the possible implication that "drag" = "something bad", but that's only because I've seen people have this discussion over Lady Gaga's lyric "don't be a drag, just be a queen" which I always interpreted as "don't be a drag [someone annoying, a buzzkill holding people back, maybe homophobic/transphobic], be a drag queen instead" which is implying that drag is a good thing.

That's basically how I interpreted the sticker too. The holidays may be a drag [annoying, tiring] but being a drag queen or appreciating drag during the holidays would mean they were a drag in a good way... because then drag wouldn't mean "annoying/tiring" it'd mean "drag queen" (or drag king, whichever). It's because the word means two things. It's a pun.

(Then again, I have the "100% Trans Fats" sticker displayed in the featured stickers on my profile because I'm trans and fat, so maybe I just like this kind of pun in a sticker...)

Other seem to interpret both the sticker and Lady Gaga's lyrics as implying that drag is bad. I just don't get it. I don't even like all the lyrics in Born This Way ("orient" and "chola") but I have never understood the idea that the line was telling people not to be drag queens. And I don't understand the idea that this sticker would be implying that drag queens are bad.

I'm not saying that it isn't valid if people feel uncomfortable from it... that feeling is totally valid and I respect it, I'm not going to tell anyone that they should get over it. I'm really sorry if anyone was hurt by it - I mean, I'm not the one who made it, I'm saying "sorry" as a way of expressing sympathy, because I know how it feels to be slapped in the face by some random homophobic or transphobic thing when you aren't expecting it. Or something that may not even be "objectively" that homophobic or transphobic but it just hits you the wrong way.

I am thinking that for the people who are hurt by it, and with that general experience of being hit by something the wrong way, it's something similar to this comic strip. I mean, even one of the sticks there that he's being hit with is "They were insulting drag queens, not you!" - although I don't think that this sticker was insulting drag queens. But some of the other things that are depicted are not really that bad either, like "it must be hard" or "you're so brave." Like I know other people find that condescending, but yes, it is hard, and yes, I do feel brave to exist.

But when you are constantly being poked with sticks like that - well, the comic demonstrates, you're bruised all over and the smallest thing might hurt you now even if it was well-meant. Also, I think we see so much homophobia and transphobia that we just start automatically expecting things to be homophobic or transphobic.

If you are constantly being hit with sticks, and one day someone hands you a giant stick-shaped candy cane, you're going to reflexively assume that they're yet another person trying to hit you with a stick and flinch away. No one would blame you for not noticing right away that it was a candy cane and the person was giving you a gift instead of hurting you.

One of our cats is afraid that we will hit her, because she was abused by humans before. It doesn't matter that we've never once hit her with anything. Even if she trusts us a lot more now, she is still frightened if we do things that remotely indicate we might hurt her (bringing an object or hands too near her face, gently nudging her away from things). She already started to expect that humans will hurt her, and it's completely understandable.

My thoughts on seeing the sticker were more 'huh, guess drag is outright canon now' (which was a little surprising, but not excessively so).

I, 100% agree with this! I think this is great and I don't think it was meant to be offensive at all!

I think it's really cute and I don't think it makes fun of drag at all. It's just a cute pun.

I agree that this is.. not promoting or encouraging, they are too strong words,... a negative association with drag. I think it's a fine line and they kind of joke that is ok if a drag queen makes it but not so acceptable if a non-drag person makes it.

Don't be a drag, let people enjoy the sticker.

- How is having a opinion stopping people for enjoying it? Am I running around shaming everyone who likes it? Am I telling people their feeling don't matter? Am I trolling anyone with a different opinion to me? Am I making light of someone else's feelings?

I think this is an issue because drag has a negative connotation. No one likes to be called a drag as in buzzkill, annoying person, etc. I think offended people take it literally and cannot see how it can be turned on its head and have a good connotation.

Also, anything in the right (or more appropriately wrong) context can be taken the wrong way.

You could say, "oh that's a really cute skirt" in that tone, I think we all know what tone I'm talking about, and it could be offensive / mocking / passive aggressive.

This sticker isn't that though. Subeta wouldn't encourage that kind of tone.

How can you argue with this? It's the name... of an actual show... supported by drag queens. Which means... it's not offensive! At least, that sounds logical to me XD