An unprecedented display of what did you say?
Framing.
In an unprecedented display of inclusivity, drag queens took center stage at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, showcasing the vibrant and influential role of the French LGBTQ+ community — while also attracting criticism over a tableau reminiscent of “The Last Supper.”
It’s astounding, isn’t it? Mockery of women is “inclusivity” – the only problem is bringing “the last supper” into it. One mustn’t tease religion, but jeering at women is inclusive and hilarious and edgy.
Le Filip, the recent winner of “Drag Race France,” expressed their positive “surprise” and “pride” at the ceremony’s scale and representation.
“I thought it would be a five-minute drag event with queer representation. I was amazed. It started with Lady Gaga, then we had drag queens, a huge rave, and a fire in the sky,” they said. “It felt like a crowning all over again. I am proud to see my friends and queer people on the world stage.”
Yeah, mockery of women on the world stage is brilliant, isn’t it. Allons enfants!
The opening ceremony came as drag and the voguing nightclub scene in France has experienced a revival. The cabaret club Madame Arthur, founded in 1946 in the ashes of World War II, is one of the world’s oldest continually running LGBTQ+ theaters. It opened as Europe was only just beginning to understand the extent of the widespread murder of members of the queer community in WWII and is currently experiencing a massive renaissance.
Drag is not just a pastime; for many minority French communities who feel alienated over tensions arising from divisive politics and scars from the anti-gay marriage protests a decade ago, it’s a statement of defiance. Many gay Black and Arab youths — especially those from Paris’ less affluent and religiously conservative suburbs — and others who feel a sense of disconnect with French society find voguing and drag events safe places where their identities can be expressed without fear of reprisal.
No mention at all of the mockery of women. Imagine the AP driveling on this way about a blackface routine at the Olympics opening ceremony – it wouldn’t happen.
And how despicable that this is seen as synonymous with “gay” (same-sex attracted, that is). My husband and I live in the country, do a little farming, and wear dungarees and no makeup.
I guess we’re not queer enough to be “included.”
People who put on these events think that sticking in drag queens automatically produces transgressive subversive capital-A Art. But I think the constant saturation coverage of drag queens has more people bored and irritated than shocked.
According to a local journalist here, the skit was supposed to represent the Feast of Dionysus, and ignorant buffoons who push book bans and bibles are the ones who are confusing it with the Last Supper.
There was no “widespread murder of members of the queer community in WWII,” you lying propagandist.
There was widespread murder of gay men.
The fact that the phrase “members of the queer community” is so clunky just underscores the writer’s dishonesty. He can’t just say “gay men” because he doesn’t really care about them. Gay men have to be subsumed into the amorphous “queer community” because he wants us to think of the contemporary trans scene, and he wants us to believe that people just like them existed and were targeted by Nazis in WWII–and continue to be in grave danger of genocide unless we all celebrate them every minute and clap our hands and believe really hard that “they are who they say they are.”
Well that explains the weird fashion show that seemed out of place. Liked all the boats though.