"We're Here": Drag queens bring love to homophobic small towns. With bonus small town guys' dicks

When I "figured it out," back in the 1980s, I immediately started looking for a safe place, where you weren't asked "What girl do you like?" every thirty seconds, where your friends wouldn't run away in horror if they found out, where you didn't have to hide all the time.  

Everyone did. They called it The Great Gay Migration: every gay man who could afford it, and many who couldn't, fled from their homophobic small towns to the gay neighborhoods of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York -- that's all we knew about, at first.  Later, some chose smaller gay neighborhoods in Houston, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Montreal, and Toronto.  We went home once a year, maybe, to field questions about the hotness of California girls at Thanksgiving Dinner.

We knew that some LGBT people stayed home, or made the Great Gay Migration, then changed their minds and went back.  We had no idea why.  I still don't, after watching several episodes of We're Here, a reality series where three drag queens sashay down the street in small, redneck towns like Selma, Alabama; Watertown, South Dakota; and St. George, Utah.  I'd be afraid to go near them, even as  cisgender and masculine-presenting.  Establishing shots minimize the horrified looks and screeching about the Book of Leviticus, probably because you have to get the screechers' release: most people seem delighted by the sashaying queens in their dull, colorless town.

The queens teach some of the locals the basics of drag, like how to hide your bulge, and put on a show with them. 

In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, amid the Confederate flags and monuments, they help:

A femme guy who works the makeup counter at the drug store.  His only gay friend in town moved to Philadelphia.  Why didn't you?

A cisgender straight guy who wants to do drag as an ally.

A woman who rejected her daughter when she came out as bisexual -- "I just thought, 'she's going over to the enemy."  Then she found the daughter's diary, and wondered what she did to make the girl consider suicide.  Being rejected by the family, maybe?  She wants to do drag to restore the relationship.

In the immensely Mormon, cowboy-redneck Twin Falls, Idaho, which looks horrible no matter how hard the queens work at finding it quaint, they help:

A queen who can spend months without ever seeing another queer person.

A reformed homophobe -- "I threw the slurs around.  I just thought, 'They're bad people.  Good people don't do that.'"

A transman and his wife. who haven't exactly been rejected by the family -- "Mom came to our wedding, but she wasn't happy about it."

In Christian-central Branson, Missouri, they help:

A Dad who wants to do drag to become more emotionally available to his sick daughter.

Tanner, who came out at age 17.  His mother was completely supportive.  Then he decided that he had to choose God over the "homosexual lifestyle."  She doesn't get it.  He wants to do drag do let Mom know that it's ok, he's going to heaven, so he doesn't need sex or romance on Earth.

Grr -- the second thing I did after "figuring it out" was to find a gay-friendly church, and there was one in my homophobic small town 40 years ago.  Somebody tell this guy that the five "clobber verses" in the Bible have nothing to do with contemporary LGBT people or committed gay relationships, being gay is ok in most mainstream Protestant churches, and 70% of young evangelicals support gay marriage.

More after the break

Kyle Hawk,: gay or gay-ally wrestler and Gemstone alum, with a nude Native American bonus

Kyle Hawk grew up in Carlsbad, New Mexico and studied at the Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute, near Albuquerque.  After the army, he worked as a fitness instructor and freelance wrestler.  He has appeared in wrestling movies, the Wrestling tv series on Netflix, and The Righteous Gemstones, and he will star in the upcoming Barracuda: The Movie: "A Marine and a tech mogul embark on an road trip across legendary Route 66." Sounds like there will be some gay subtexts.

Kyle's wrestling persona keys into Native American culture and stereotypes.  His entry on his merch page reads: 

 Representing the reservation, The Savage is amongst the few indigenous wrestlers. He’s on a warpath of destruction using his tomahawk chops, Scalper, and Dreamcatcher to punish anyone who stands in his way.

Gemstone connection: In the opening sequence of Episode 2.1, a flashback to 1968 Memphis, John Big Cloud (Kyle Hawk) is wrestling the young Eli Gemstone (Jake Kelley).  After winning the match, Eli hugs John, then throws him out of the ring, illustrating his persona as "The Maniac Kid." 

Gay connection: Kyle regularly tags himself at drag brunches and other events at the Phoenix, "the best gay bar in Las Vegas."  Well, wrestling and drag have a lot in common.  They're both about creating a bigger-than-life persona. 

Nude Native American photos after the break