The LGBTQ community knows how to rally and show up for our people, and this weekend, the promoters behind F*ck You Revue, Switch n’ Play and Sasha Velour are doing just that with TRANSGRESSIONS. This variety show featuring drag queens and kings, burlesque performers and aerialists will be a celebration of non-binary expression to raise funds for community member Bronwyn Karle’s top surgery. According to the event page, Bronwyn, a gender non-conforming trans person and beloved nightlife fixture, is being refused insurance for their top surgery as Bronwyn doesn’t identify within the gender binary.
Bronwyn became a regular of Switch n’ Play a few years back to support their friends who are drag and burlesque performers. “Bronwyn is moved by the possibility of what can happen in drag and how free people are to express themselves,” said Zoe Ziegfeld, co-producer of F*ck You Revue and burlesque performer. Raised in the South with not so ideal conditions for a young queer, Bronwyn has found solace in having access to gender fluid environments like drag shows in NYC.
All of the performers at Sunday night’s fundraiser show “somehow incorporate aspects of femininity and masculinity that can be really confusing and shocking, there will be twists throughout the whole evening,” Ziegfeld told GO. This evening of over-the-top performances will surpass all expectations, taking what the audience usually knows of drag and subverting those thoughts. “You will have to question what you know about what you enjoy looking at and see as beautiful,” Ziegfeld said.
Ziegfeld said the audience can expect to feel moved, excited and possibly a little uncomfortable. “People will have to think about politics,” they said. “They’ll hear messages that resonate in our current political environment. They will see beauty and physical feats of strength. We’ve drawn from all corners of performance art to bring this show together.”
As LGBTQ community pushes society to make efforts to move away from the gender binary, Ziegfeld believes that spaces like TRANSGRESSIONS are vital.
“As we move away from the binary, we need people to come with us. We have to do the work together, unified and supported. You can see this happen at a drag show, where the audience bears witness to the celebration of nonbinary expression surrounded by excited and supportive people.”
