Drag and Religion, by Andrea Trevino

     “That is such a ‘Regis’ thing to do” was the response from my parents when I told them I was going to my very first drag show. It brought me back to why I decided to pursue a Women’s and Gender minor. My sensible, snowflake self is curious about why injustices and disregard for identities are so normalized in today’s society and language; especially in Hispanic culture. I have always wondered how my household bats an eye and has uproars every time we hear Trump say something racist yet do not have a single conversation about how he wants to take action against the transgender community in order to ‘protect the country’. The continuous issue of division is explained by Judith Butler. She states that we may only understand our own identities in opposition to those of other people. In other words, we use a kind of comparison to understand ourselves and cannot merely understand another’s identity because we simply do not share the same one.

    I am grateful for my catholic education I received growing up back home in Arizona and even more to Regis for allowing me to recognize how I had a sort of privilege. Back home, I was never exposed to the LGBTQ community and allyship; I didn’t know what drag was. To be honest, I was nervous to attend this show; I didn’t know what to expect. But wow what an incredible experience. The vibe in the Mountain View Room was similar to a concert which I hope mostly everyone has experienced before. There was community, unity, support, happiness, and excitement for what this stood as in terms of creating a queer space in a Jesuit University. I was taken aback to see some classmates I have known since freshman year having the courage and fun when performing. The panel led by Dr. Bateman really brought the event back to why it mattered. As I reflect back, I was surprised to realize that we were sitting right next to the provost. I was pleased to know that admin was invested in supporting this event and taking steps towards showing inclusivity and not just preaching about it.

    For this blogpost, I wanted to focus on the greater issue that the event faced after occurring. The Denver Post published an article which expressed the archbishop of Denver, Samuel Aquila's disagreement with the hosting and supporting of this event. He states, “deconstruction of human sexuality has already introduced great confusion into society and it is not in conformity with the Catholic faith…For those who struggle with their sexual identity, it is important to accompany them with compassion, helping them to encounter Jesus Christ, who can bring them healing and lead them to their true identity as sons and daughters of the Father, unlike the false freedom promoted by gender theory.”

   Aquila’s defenses are similar to those which parallel how prisons are queer. In this sense, according to history, in both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome constructions of gender were understood to exist on a hierarchical yet horizontal continuum, ranging from male at one end to not-male at the other side. People weren’t always ostracized in this way, looking back through religious history, every major religious group has celebrated or at least tolerated some kind of gender diversity and the drag queens of today can help us remember this history (Steele,2018). It was actually these drag king and queens who take 'the other' and make it themselves. They started performing during the height of mostly everyone ascribing to Catholicism or Christianity or otherwise. During these pre-modern periods there was more freedom for varied gender and sexual expression, even though the reception was not always as positive as could be. Today it seems we have regressed into an extremely binarized understanding of sex and gender.

    If we are taught to love our neighbors and the Lord as ourselves, we cannot make exceptions whenever we want. If everyone is made in the love and image of the one who created us, who are we to say some who are different than us do not fall under the same umbrella?