Long live the Queens
Long live the Queens
SU’s Pride Union annual drag show serves us drama and a death drop.
Long live the Queens is a photo essay that showcases the show’s four finalists — Quirt, DayTerror, Lemon Drop, and Landon, Interrupted. This project aims to evoke the experience and exhilaration of drag performance, reminding us that the heart of drag is still alive and well.
Authenticity and joy took center stage during Pride Union‘s 23rd annual Syracuse University Drag Show preliminaries on March 21 and finals on April 11.
Celebrity drag queens Lana Ja’Rae and Gigi Goode graced the stages for each show, bringing an original presence to an event marked by identity and expression. Large crowds of students and community members came out to see and loudly support their friends’ performances.
The history of drag is long and extensive, and still rather contested. However, modern drag as we know it today is most often credited to drag balls in the United States, tracing back to New York City at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. At the forefront of the art form were Black and Latino artists, who, due to racism and prejudice, created the House Ball scene as a way to self-express safely.
“I feel like it’s so deeply ingrained in me. I don’t feel like I’m putting on a character. I am the character.” – Landon, Interrupted
Landon, Interrupted poses for a portrait in her Syracuse University dorm room.
“‘Quirt’ comes from a character from an old Western film made by John Wayne.” – Quirt
Today, drag performances are a part of pop culture. As an act of gender performance, exploration, and exaggeration, it allows people of all gender identities to participate as a drag queen or king.
“I saw Rocky Horror and knew right then that drag was calling to me.” – DayTerror
“Drag is art and community. It’s like being at pride but you’re the one in the parade.” – Lemon Drop
Lemon Drop poses for a portrait in her apartment.
Despite an increase in visibility and acceptance, transgender people and the practice of drag have been widely targeted by hostility and proposed legislation. There has been an increase in what is referred to as the ‘anti-gender movement’, targeting gender equality, LGBTQ+ people, and ‘gender ideology’. 2023 saw more than triple the amount of introduced anti-trans legislation than 2022, with several bills specifically targeting the restriction of drag performances. So far, 857 bills have been introduced in 2025, 77 of them passing.
But this has not stopped people from continuing to participate in drag. RuPaul’s Drag Race continues to see hundreds of thousands of viewers, drag queens are still performing at events, and younger people – like SU students – continue the practice and culture of drag at shows like the annual drag show.
