So after spending over double my budget on things I didn’t need, but couldn’t leave New York without, my friend and I decided our last major event of the day would be the Paris Is Still Burning panel. Paris Is Burning should be compulsory viewing for anyone watching Drag Race – to understand the world RuPaul has created, you have to learn where a great deal of it came from.
Moderated by Michelle Visage, the panel consisted of Jack Mizrahi, Mariah Balenciaga, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, Tyra Allure Ross, Vivacious, and the icon himself, Grandmaster Hector Xtravaganza from the House Of Xtravaganza.
Each panel member explained how they got into the ballroom scene, and while every story differed slightly, they were all connected by the thread of family. Their house gave them love and acceptance; they found a place where they belonged. Just as all the kids at Drag Con had found their tribe. Hector and Michelle spoke of an age when the balls had to be secret, which was so inconceivable to imagine as we sat in a building filled with 40,000 people attending the fourth drag convention.
It was the perfect end to the weekend – the lines may have been longer than I have ever seen, and I may have had to buy $5 slippers from Manila Luzon’s booth so I could get on the subway without my feet bleeding in the heels I brought, but it was all worth it when I really thought about why we were there. The same feeling of love flowed through the Javits Center all weekend, just as it had done at the LA Convention Center. It’s an environment where no one is afraid to be anything but exactly who they are, an atmosphere I wish we could echo for the other 364 days of the year out in the real world.
Tickets for RuPaul’s Drag Con: Los Angeles 2018 go on sale in November – you know I’m going to be there!
Everybody say love!
About The Author:
Holly Walters is a Brit living in LA, obsessed with Meryl Streep, Drag, and Stevie Nicks.
Instagram: @charlottenelsonreilly
Twitter: @hollylottie88
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